Allstate insurance said it expects a $1.1 billion loss from claims caused by the wildfires that swept through Southern California in January

Allstate said the wildfires blazed through Southern California last month will bring the insurance company a sizable loss – $1.1 billion.

Allstate Corp. said it expects about $1.1 billion of losses from the wildfires that ravaged swaths of Los Angeles last month. The anticipated cost partly reflects the Northbrook-based insurer's decision to reduce market share beginning in 2007, the insurer said in a statement Wednesday, when it reported fourth-quarter results.

U.S. primary insurer Allstate has estimated that its gross losses from the Los Angeles, California wildfires will be $2 billion, and after r

In the fourth quarter, catastrophe losses took $315 million out of Allstate’s homeowners insurance business, up from $21 million the year before.

The economic toll from the California wildfires is just starting to become clear. Allstate is the latest insurer out with numbers. The insurance company says it will pay out $1.1 billion in insured claims.