The Palisades Fire could cause more than $10 billion in damages, further straining the state’s fragile insurance market. On Tuesday, after a ferocious Santa Ana windstorm blew through Southern California,

U.S. insurance stocks slid on Friday as analysts estimated insured losses from the wildfires menacing Los Angeles could reach as high as $20 billion, potentially making it the costliest disaster in California's history.

The wind-driven wildfires burning out of control in the Los Angeles area couldn't have emerged at a more perilous moment for California's homeowners, as officials try to rehab what they concede is a deepening "insurance crisis.