Insurer aggressively grew in Los Angeles, despite getting overweight on fire risk, but decided to cut thousands of policies last year, adding to the state’s home-insurance crisis.

State Farm, the largest home insurer in California, is asking for an emergency rate hike from state regulators as it warns that multibillion-dollar payouts from the Los Angeles wildfires threaten its balance sheet and the broader insurance market.

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.