OAKLAND — Following a historic year of wildfires, property owners in fire-prone areas are finding it increasingly difficult to get affordable insurance — and in some cases, any policies at all.
Several major insurers have stopped writing new policies or renewing plans in the state’s most fire-prone regions, the California Department of Insurance says. Their actions are in many ways understandable: The Wine Country wildfires in October caused an estimated $9 billion in insurance damages.
“Insurers are increasingly using computer models to assess the risk of fires for individual homes and deciding that homes in some areas face too high a risk,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “In the wake of last year’s wildfires, we may see more areas of the state where insurers decline to write.”