Bushfires in Victoria in January caused $810 million of insured losses, Swiss catastrophe data company Perils estimates.

The figure is up from an earlier calculation of $786 million, made in the weeks after the catastrophe.

More than 30 bushfires broke out across the state, burning 400,000 hectares. From January 7-13, about 900 buildings were destroyed, including 330 homes.

More than 20,000 livestock animals were lost and infrastructure was affected. The Insurance Council of Australia declared a catastrophe on January 16.

Perils head of Asia-Pacific Darryl Pidcock says that after the devastating Black Summer fires of 2019-20, major catastrophe losses were for six years caused mostly by “wet” events such as cyclones, floods and severe convective storms.

“This event differed from the 2019-20 fires as it occurred primarily in grassland areas, fueled by extremely dry grasses, intense winds with fires moving at up to 25km/h at their peak,” he said.

Mr Pidcock adds lessons have been learnt since the Black Saturday fires of February 2009, when 173 people died. One person died in the January fires.

There has also been “considerable research since the Black Summer fires into the impacts of major fires, with subsequent efforts by the industry and government to improve awareness and risk mitigation of rural properties”.

A further Perils loss estimate, which covers the property and motor hull lines of business, will be made in July.