If you’re a homeowner in Placer, Nevada or Butte counties, there’s a good chance you’ve received a shock when trying to renew your fire insurance for another year.
Whole swaths of people in these fire-prone areas have been finding that their insurance companies are either drastically raising premiums on fire coverage or dropping them altogether, in the wake of two record wildfire seasons in 2017 and 2018. Leaders in those three counties have reached out to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) for help, as residents there head nervously into the thick of fire season uninsured or under-insured.
"I am writing to convey the board's profound concern about the lack of availability and affordability of fire insurance to homeowners in El Dorado County," Board of Supervisors Chair Sue Novasel wrote to Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara last month, calling it a dire situation.