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.

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