By Richard Giller and Katherine Ellena ( November 19, 2018, 12:02 PM EST) -- It is estimated that there are over 13.5 million homes in California and one-third of those are located in or near areas vulnerable to wildfires. Unfortunately, for those of us who live and work in California, wildfires are an annual occurrence that have, in recent years, become increasingly more devastating and more costly, both in terms of loss of life and damage to property. Following the wildfires that ravaged the state in 2017, insurance companies received 45,000 claims totaling close to $12 billion in losses. As this article is being written, huge wildfires are burning in Butte, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. As affected property owners are allowed back into the burn areas and begin to rummage through the ashes, wondering how to find the strength to rebuild, insurance coverage for fire related damages may be the last thing on anyone's mind but it will inevitably come to the forefront. Property owners need to be prepared for the insurance claims process. As discussed in this article, a number of important insurance lessons were learned from the claims submitted in connection with the 2017 wildfires and that experience, together with an understanding of certain legislation recently signed into law in California as a result of those fires, should greatly assist those impacted by the 2018 fires in how to maximize their insurance payouts....