This past week residents and businesses in southern California were impacted by
a series of wildfires specifically in Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County,
Malibu and Canyon Lands in Los Angeles County and in multiple communities in
San Diego County including the city of San Diego.  Over 400,000 acres were burnt, 
seven deaths occurred in fire related incidences and nearly 100 injuries along with
1200 homes were reported destroyed in San Diego County. And it was the largest
mandatory evacuation in the state's history at over 500,000 people.

According to the Associated Press, damage from the wildfires in San Diego County
has reached $1 billion. The Insurance Information Institute identified that the wildfires
could cost insurers $500 million however estimates are 'very preliminary'.

Bloomington, Illinois based State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. and Farmers Insurance
Group are the largest home insurers in the state face claims by more than 3,300
customers whose homes were damaged or destroyed.

Allstate, the third largest home insurer in the state had no damage or data as of
October 25, however, the 3 companies comprise 52 percent of the home insurance
market in the state so there is a high probability that they will be receiving claims.

As of October 25, State Farm had 1,579 claims with 298 homes classified as
uninhabitable in San Diego County and throughout the rest of southern California it
had over 2,000 claims included nearly 500 homes.  Farmers had 1,725, in San Diego
County but no numbers were available on claims throughout the rest of the southland
nor on homes destroyed.  In all cases, no dollar values were available.

Estimates could make this fire the most costly in the state's history.  The Oakland
Hills firein 1991 resulted in total claims of between $3 billion to $4 billion in 2007
dollars.  The 2003 southern California fires cost $2.6 billion in losses.

Economists say that the wildfires in southern California will not have a long term
affect on the region's economy. Alan Gin, a University of San Diego economist told
the LA times "In the odd nature of economic accounting, this probably will be a
stimulus".  "There will be  a huge amount of rebuilding in the next couple of years".

Kelly Cunningham, economist with the San Diego Institute for Policy Research
was quoted in the San Diego Union Tribune illustrating that from a economic
standpoint the negative impacts from disasters usually isn't long lasting". 
"Things look negative right now, but there will be a dip and then a rebound". 
"Rebuilding spurs the economy".




Christopher  Thornburg, an economist with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles identified
that "In general, business that gets postponed in the first weeks after a disaster is only
delayed".  "It's not canceled". "Everything that's not done today gets done tomorrow or
in the next several weeks". "Over the long run that's just small blips in the economy".

However, according to Joseph Bursuelos, chief economist at IDEAglobal described that
the damage could take a wider toll on the regions economy.  "Losses to the tourism and
agriculture sectors won't be fully recovered". "Local governments and their budgets will be
stretched by the unexpected costs of emergency services".  "Homeowners may well see
insurance rates rise".  "And money devoted to covering damages is money that could
otherwise be invested in economic activity that produces growth".

But given the magnitude of the number of fires and their size and their locations,
specifically in San Diego's urban centers, there is a golden lining.  In a Washington Post
editorial, it identified that its reporters, William Booth and Sonya Geis found an organized
evacuation effort at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.  But more importantly the editorial
identified that because of well-organized disaster preparedness planning at the state and
regional levels and drills that are continually performed, California is considered the gold
standard of emergency response.  The editorial continued stating that the state had
leadership from the Governor to San Diego's Mayor Jerry Sanders on down.  The
significance was illustrated in that only seven fire related fatalities occurred in an inferno
that burned an area twice the size of New York City shows what can result from clear and
coordinated leadership.

Speaking of leadership, the following identifies the corporate support to help with the
recovery efforts. A total of $17.5 million in cash donations and $1 million in merchandise.
Sources came from press releases by companies, or from newspaper and media coverage.

                              
                                                     CONTRIBUTIONS
                  Southern California Wildfire Relief Efforts
                                        (Unofficial 10-29-07)