Insured losses in wildfires put at $1 billion

SAN FRANCISCO — The wildfires that devastated California this month caused at least $1 billion in damage to insured property, officials said Thursday, as authorities raised the number of homes and other buildings destroyed to nearly 7,000.

Both numbers were expected to rise as crews continue assessing areas scorched by the blazes that killed 42 people.

State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said the preliminary dollar valuation of losses came from claims filed with the eight largest insurance companies in the affected areas and did not include uninsured property.

He said most of the newly counted destroyed buildings burned on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 — when the wildfires broke out in Northern California’s wine country and other nearby areas.

The initial insurance total covered 4,177 partial residential losses; 5,449 total residential losses; 35 rental and condominium losses; 601 commercial property losses; more than 3,000 vehicle losses; 150 farm or agricultural equipment losses; and 39 boats.

California Gov. Jerry Brown late Wednesday issued an executive order to speed up recovery efforts as fire authorities say they’ve stopped the progress of the wildfires.

Tens of thousands of people have been allowed back home but more than 15,000 remain evacuated Thursday, down from a high of 100,000 last Saturday.