The wildfires that have 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.
The loss total was expected to climb "probably dramatically so," he told a Los Angeles press conference.