FILE - In this Monday Oct. 9, 2017 file photo flames from a wildfire consume a home, near Napa, Calif. Insurance claims for last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Insurance claims from last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Wednesday, making it the most expensive series of wildfires in state history.
The staggering number exceeds the total insurance claims from the top 10 previously most costly wildfires in California.
Before last year, California's most expensive single fire was the 1991 Oakland Hills fire that prompted $2.7 billion in claims in today's dollars.
Nearly $1.8 billion of the 2017 insurance claims stem from fires that swept through Southern California in December. The rest is from a series of fires in Northern California's wine country in October.
Jones said the two firestorms damaged or destroyed 32,000 homes, 4,300 businesses and more than 8,200 vehicles, boats and other equipment. Dozens of people were killed.
The totals do not include insurance claims related to mudslides that buried homes and vehicles in Montecito when torrential rain fell on hillsides burned in the December fires.
The figures for Southern California are likely to grow as more people get through the time-consuming process of filing a claim.
FILE -- In this Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017 file photo a wildfire threatens homes as it burns along the 101 Freeway in Ventura, Calif. Insurance claims for last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong,file)
The Associated Press
FILE -- In this Dec. 2, 2017 file photo Christmas stockings hang from a fireplace at a home destroyed in an October wildfire in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif. Insurance claims for last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2017 file photo, California's State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones talks during a news conference in Los Angeles. Jones release the latest numbers on insurance claims from a deadly spate of wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes throughout California. Jones has previously said that property owners have filed more than $9 billion in claims from the October fires in Northern California wine country. On Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, he'll release the first figures from December fires in Southern California. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
The Associated Press
FILE -- In this Oct. 11, 2017 file photo, homes burned by a wildfire are seen in Santa Rosa, Calif. Insurance claims for last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)
The Associated Press
FILE -- In this Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017 file photo a home burns during the Creek Fire in the Lake View Terrace area of Los Angeles. Insurance claims for last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file)
The Associated Press