Firefighters monitor the advancing Line Fire in Angelus Oaks on Monday. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
A trio of wildfires have torched 100,000 acres in Southern California counties, forcing evacuations from fire threats and smoke, and prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom and county leaders to declare states of emergency to marshall firefighting resources.
But the fires highlight another, related crisis: the exodus of major insurance companies from fire-prone parts of California, including regions in San Diego County.
In June the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors pulled the alarm on that problem, calling for the state to declare an emergency over dwindling home insurance options for people in high-risk areas.
That includes lots of places in Inland Empire deserts and mountains, where high heat and dry conditions make wildfire a constant danger. Adding to that, the region’s varied terrain leaves it vulnerable to a host of other calamities, including earthquakes, floods and even blizzards.
So far the Line Fire has burned more than 37,000 acres, forcing evacuations in campgrounds and communities, including Running Springs, Arrowbear Lake and Big Bear.
To the west, the Bridge Fire exploded Tuesday night from 4,000 acres to more than 50,000 acres, spreading from Los Angeles County into the Wrightwood community in San Bernardino County, and burning several dozen structures.
The Airport Fire grew to more than 23,000 acres as it spread from eastern Orange County into Riverside County, with the smoke visible from North County.
Although some homes and buildings were burned and there were several injuries, no lives have been lost as of Wednesday, but that has not always been the case. In 2003 the Old Fire burned more than 90,000 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains, destroyed more than 1,000 homes and killed six people. Other monstrous fires throughout the state also have wreaked havoc on the home insurance market.
Earlier this year insurance giant State Farm announced it would not renew 72,000 policies throughout the state. Last year both State Farm and Allstate stopped writing new policies in California.
That makes insurance hard to come by in many parts of the state that need it most, including the mountain and desert communities of the Inland Empire.
The Line Fire underscores the need to make insurance models reliable for customers and sustainable for insurers, said San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe.
“From the homeowners’ perspective, this is all the more reason why they have to have insurance, and why insurance exists to protect them from a loss,” Rowe said before touring an evacuation zone. “From the insurance companies’ perspective, they might say this (fire) is what we’re talking about, this is a probability, not just a possibility.”
Homeowners who can’t get commercial insurance can apply for coverage under the California FAIR plan, the state’s high-risk pool. But that’s more expensive, and they’ll have to buy pricey wraparound policies to cover routine claims such as theft, liability or water damage.
Also the plan was intended to be a last resort, not the policy of choice for hundreds of thousands of customers.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara took steps to make California regulations more friendly for insurers. CalMatters reporter Levi Sumagaysay explained how the new rules would work.
The first reform will streamline rate reviews. The other regulation lets insurers use catastrophe modeling — which factors in historic claims as well as projected losses — to set rates.
The reforms won’t take effect for a while. Rowe said supervisors are pushing for additional safeguards to provide homeowners with advance notice of policy cancellations and a means to appeal them.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters.