California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara gave the green light to State Farm‘s emergency request to hike rates after the company suffered billions of dollars in losses due to the fires that devastated Los Angeles earlier this year.

The state insurance commission is allowing the insurer to raise rates due to financial distress caused by $7 billion in claims from Los Angeles County fires. Rates will rise an average of 17 percent for homeowners.

State Farm has argued the emergency rate hikes are necessary to help the company avoid a “dire” financial crisis that could force them to drop more California policies.