Bermuda reinsurers have agreed to expedite payments that can help Californians get back on their feet from some of their worst wildfires.

California regulators have assured their lawmakers that during meetings in Bermuda there were welcomed assurances and a clear understanding of the pressure faced by the state after weeks of wildfire activity.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara felt compelled to explain himself, after facing stinging criticism for attending the Bermuda Risk Summit at which he gave the March 11 keynote address.

Critics at home felt he should have instead been in Sacramento at the Senate Insurance Committee’s oversight hearing on the state’s insurance crisis. Seven of the 12 largest insurers have cut back or left.

California has traditionally used past data to set homeowners rates. But insurers want to set rates using catastrophe modelling, something the commissioner said is on its way.

When it came time for Mr Lara to testify before the California State Assembly, he told them that fixing the property insurance market meant working hand in hand with the reinsurance industry, something previously considered unacceptable.

He said: “At the end of the day, they are the ones making the decisions. The reinsurers are deciding if they are going to back the insurance companies that want to do business in California.”

He said while he is being criticised for attending the summit, he knows it was the right thing to do, the important thing to do. He was on the island, he said, to advocate for California.

He told legislators that the island was home to some 40 per cent of the world’s reinsurers.

CalMatters reported his testimony to the committee: “We have to engage face-to-face, which allows for more direct answers, and I must confront the insurance industry to drive these results.

“If insurance companies are telling me that the cost of reinsurance is almost tripling, well then I need to trust but also verify, by directly meeting with the reinsurance companies. The insurers are their customers.”

Mr Lara also told lawmakers that some reinsurance companies agreed to expedite wildfire payments and also work with the state on expanding earthquake insurance.

For more than three weeks, the Los Angeles metropolitan area and San Diego County were hit with 14 destructive wildfires, exacerbated by drought conditions, low humidity, a build-up of vegetation from the previous winter, and hurricane-force Santa Ana winds.

The wildfires killed at least 29 people, forced more than 200,000 people to evacuate, and destroyed more than 18,000 homes and structures. The wildfires burnt over 57,000 acres of land in total.

Mr Lara laid out his Sustainable Insurance Strategy for legislators, which focuses on incorporating new climate risk management tools in rate-making, including catastrophe modelling and reinsurance costs, after his discussions in Bermuda.

He intends to enforce first-in-the-nation insurer commitments to write more policies in wildfire distressed areas.

He seeks to achieve greater insurance availability for consumers and modernise Fair Plan, which provides basic fire insurance coverage for high-risk properties when traditional insurance companies will not.

He wants to help it remain financially solvent and sustainable while providing more – yet temporary comprehensive commercial coverage.