State Farm is asking California's insurance regulator to approve an emergency rate hike due to the number of claims it received after last month's devastating wildfires.

State Farm has received more than 8,700 claims from the Los Angeles fires alone and paid more than $1 billion to customers, according to the company. The insurer expects to pay out significantly more, and the fires will be the costliest in the history of State Farm, the company said.

Citing what it calls a potentially “dire situation,” State Farm asked California for permission to hike insurance rates by an average of 22%.