Insurance claims from Southland blazes climb into the record books. (insurance claims from...

Projections of insured losses from the Southland fires mounted last week, with officials of both the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirement plan and State Farm Insurance reporting they now expect their claims to exceed $100 million.

Meanwhile, Property Claims Services, the Rahway,

Estimates for the insured loss total on the Altadena and Malibu fires were not available last week.

The state Office of Emergency Services has estimated that the Malibu fire caused $500 million in damage. The OES had also estimated that the Altadena and Laguna fires together caused an estimated $500 million in damage.

California's Fair Plan, a state-mandated insurance pool funded by the state's private insurers, created to insure high risks, sent out letters last week officially informing private property casualty insurance companies they will be billed to help cover a shortfall the Fair plan will suffer as a result of the Altadena and Malibu fires, spokesman Mike Harris said last week.

The Fair plan last week upgraded its damage estimate on the Malibu fire to $116 million from an earlier estimate of $50 million, Harris said. The Fair plan now estimates the Altadena fire will cost $23.5 million, not $27 million as reported earlier, Harris said.

The combination of fires will wipe out the funds in the Fair plan and private insurers will be called upon to cover the losses based on their market share in the state, Harris said. Those bills will probably be sent out in the next two weeks, he said.

"We'll ask for the checks as soon as possible," Harris said. "These claims need to be paid."

State Farm Insurance Group, the state's largest insurer with 24 percent of the homeowners' policy market, last week reported that it will pay out $135 million for losses in the Southland fires, said Tom Cordova, State Farm spokesman.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based State Farm last week revised its estimate of losses for the Altadena and Laguna fires to $90 million from $60 million, Cordova said. State Farm had 931 total claims in the Laguna fire, with 164 of those for homes destroyed, he said.

State Farm had a total of 1,220 claims reported, with 269 relating to homes totally destroyed by fire, Cordova said.

State Farm had 281 claims from the Malibu fire, with 105 of those involving homes that were destroyed. Total insured losses in that fire were estimated at $45 million, Cordova said.

Farmers Insurance Cos. now estimates it will pay out $65 million for losses in all the Southland fires, up from an earlier estimate of $58 million, said John Millen, spokesman for the Los Angeles-based insurer.

Farmers policyholders reported 594 claims for wind damage totaling $900,000, 300 claims totaling $4.3 million for smoke and partial fire damage and 104 claims totaling $60 million for homes totally burned, Millen said.

Allstate Insurance Co. expects to pay out $57 million for 418 claims in the Altadena and Laguna fires, said Al Orendorff, spokesman for the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer. The company had 201 claims reported for damage in the Malibu fire but no loss estimate was available last week, he said.

Aetna Life & Casualty had 85 claims reported in all the recent California fires and about one-third involved homes totally destroyed, said Steve Wasdick, spokesman for the Hartford, Conn.-based insurer.

He said 16 of those claims were in the Malibu area. Wasdick said the company did not have a dollar loss figure yet.

Jim Welsh, claim consultant for Property Claims Services, said the Laguna fire ranks fourth in insured losses in 1993, behind the World Trade Center bombing, the Midwest floods and the March freezing storm which devastated the East Coast.

Welsh noted that the Laguna fire was unlike other national catastrophes in that there were fewer claims with higher price tags because of the expensive homes which were destroyed.

Historically, "there are more claims with a lower average cost," Welsh said. For example, in a typical hail or wind catastrophe, there may be 20,000 claims with an average cost of $2,000 to $2,500 a claim, he said.

In the Laguna fire there were 2,500 claims reported with an average cost of $174,000, he said. But he noted that dollar figure "is totally irrelevant" because the claims may be for much more or much less depending on whether it was a home totally destroyed, partially destroyed or a car damaged.

Welsh noted although Laguna is now ranked as the fourth largest catastrophe, that could likely change next week when Property Services releases its estimate for the Malibu fire insured losses.