2018年11月20日，Calfire林业地图提供了一份讲义，展示了一个家庭住宅和皮卡车，该车于2018年11月14日在加利福尼亚州马加里亚附近被营火摧毁。[照片/ic]洛杉矶-美国加利福尼亚州最近爆发的一系列野火引发的保险索赔，包括一场被列为州历史上最致命和最具破坏性的野火，已经超过90亿美元，预计将增加，州保险专员周三报告。到目前为止，索赔还没有达到2017加利福尼亚在火灾中相关的保险损失的120亿美元，其中大部分来自于旧金山湾北部一大片葡萄酒国家的十几个大火，造成46人死亡。今年，11月8日爆发的营火占了大部分索赔，仅占总数的70多亿美元。风力驱动的大火迅速烧毁了位于旧金山北部280公里处的塞拉山麓城镇帕拉代斯，摧毁了18500户家庭和企业，造成86人死亡。伤亡人数是加利福尼亚州有记录的单一野火造成的最大生命损失，也是上个世纪美国野火造成的最高死亡人数。在南加利福尼亚州，大约同时发生了两起规模较小的火灾：伍尔西和希尔火灾，造成3人死亡，1500座建筑物被毁，迫使洛杉矶西部的马里布地区数千人疏散。保险专员将这两起火灾的初步保险索赔总额合计超过20亿美元，使上个月所有三起火灾的赔偿总额达到约90亿美元。保险部门表示，这项统计反映了居民和商业保险以及机动车辆、农业、机械和其他资产的损失。2018年毁灭性的野火是加利福尼亚历史上最致命和最具破坏性的野火灾难，”专员戴夫·琼斯在一份声明中说。周三公布的数字来自近4万个独立的索赔，其中超过四分之一代表全部损失。专员说，其中大部分10564是用于私人住宅物业。加州保险部发言人南希·金凯德（Nancy Kincaid）表示，去年在加州葡萄酒之乡发生致命的野火后，索赔金额可能远远超过创纪录的104亿美元。”这些是我们迄今为止记录的第一批数字…而且很有可能很快打破去年的记录，”她说。
A handout made available by CalFire Forestry Maps and made available on Nov 20, 2018 shows a single family home and pickup truck that were destroyed by the Camp Fire near Magalia, California, on Nov 14, 2018. [Photo/IC]

LOS ANGELES - Insurance claims from the recent spate of US California wildfires, including one ranked as the most deadly and destructive in state history, have topped $9 billion and are expected to grow, the state insurance commissioner reported on Wednesday.

The claims, so far, fall short of the record $12 billion in wildfire-related insured losses sustained in California in 2017, most of that from more than a dozen blazes that swept a large swath of wine country north of San Francisco Bay, killing 46 people.

This year, the Camp Fire that erupted on Nov 8 has accounted for the bulk of the claims, at just over $7 billion of the total. The wind-driven blaze quickly incinerated most of the Sierra foothills town of Paradise, about 280 kilometers north of San Francisco, destroying 18,500 homes and businesses and killing 86 people.

The casualty toll stands as the greatest loss of life from a single wildfire on record in California, and the highest from any US wildfire during the past century.

A pair of smaller blazes that broke out at about the same time in Southern California, the Woolsey and Hill fires, killed three people and destroyed about 1,500 structures and forced the evacuation of thousands in the Malibu area west of Los Angeles.

The insurance commissioner put preliminary insurance claims from those two fires combined at more than $2 billion, bringing the total for all three of last month's blazes to about $9 billion.

The tally reflects losses for residential and commercial coverage, as well as for motor vehicles, agriculture, machinery and other assets, the Insurance Department said.

"The devastating wildfires of 2018 were the deadliest and most destructive wildfire catastrophes in California's history," Commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement.

The numbers released on Wednesday stem from almost 40,000 separate claims, more than a fourth of which represent total losses. Most of those, 10,564, were for personal residential property, the commissioner said.

Nancy Kincaid, spokeswoman for the California Department of Insurance, said claims could very well exceed the record-breaking $10.4 billion paid out last year following deadly wildfires that ripped through the state's wine country.

"These are the first numbers we've recorded so far... and it's possible that very quickly last year's record will be broken," she said.

REUTERS - AFP

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