Increase your resiliency in the new year…
Increase your resiliency in the new year…

If you own a home, we suggest putting “make risk reduction improvements” on your New Year’s resolution list. Taking steps to make it less likely that severe weather or a wildfire will damage your home is more important than ever. Insurers have added new coverage…
KVNF Regional Newscast: January 4, 2023
KVNF Regional Newscast: January 4, 2023

Coloradans can now get thirty percent off the price of electric lawn and garden equipment. A new state law that took effect this week offers a tax credit to equipment retailers if they offer the discount to consumers at the time of purchase. Participating retailers…
Two years after Colorado’s most destructive wildfire, victims are still struggling with insurance claims
Two years after Colorado’s most destructive wildfire, victims are still struggling with insurance claims

It’s been two years since the Marshall Fire burned more than a thousand homes in Boulder County. On December 30, 2021, winds of more than 100-miles-per-hour propelled the flames toward a heavily populated suburban area south of Boulder. Two years on, many homeowners continue to…
Advice From A Fire Survivor: ‘I Learned A Lot’
Advice From A Fire Survivor: ‘I Learned A Lot’

Don’t rush into things, especially major decisions. You have plenty of time. I was a board member for Coffey Strong which was formed after our fire to help our neighborhood, Coffey Park, recover. I now work for United Policyholders, which is a nonprofit that has…
Crisis on the Availability and Affordability of Wildfire Insurance
Crisis on the Availability and Affordability of Wildfire Insurance

At the California State Association of Counties’ (CSAC) annual meeting in November, where I serve as the County’s representative, I moderated an informational panel titled “Fire Insurance Crisis: How We Got Here and Where We’re Going.” The panel included Deputy Commissioner of Community Relations and…
Supervisor Hall Leads Discussion on Fire Insurance, Emergency Planning
Supervisor Hall Leads Discussion on Fire Insurance, Emergency Planning

Supervisor Heidi Hall took a leadership role at the California State Association of Counties’ annual meeting in November in Alameda County. She moderated the panel, “Fire Insurance Crisis: How We Got Here and Where We’re Going.” The panel included a representative from state Insurance Commissioner…
Urban wildfires may become more likely. A Modern West live panel discusses how to prepare.
Urban wildfires may become more likely. A Modern West live panel discusses how to prepare.

Urban wildfires in unlikely places are likely to become more prevalent as the climate warms, so homeowners across the American West should consider their immediate risk. That’s according to a panel of wildfire survivors and experts assembled for a Facebook Live event with Wyoming Public…
As wildfire risk increases in Bay Area, communities are building back better with new technology
As wildfire risk increases in Bay Area, communities are building back better with new technology

For many people in California, memories of recent wildfires are vivid and painful. The same can be said for construction consultant Ed Nessinger, who can recreate the terrifying moments from recent wildfires in Sonoma County in chilling detail. “So the last Tubbs fire, I was…
More homes in wildfire-prone areas means learning to live with fire
More homes in wildfire-prone areas means learning to live with fire

Diane Moss has learned a lot of lessons from the 97,000-acre Woolsey Fire that damaged more than 300 structures, destroyed another 1,600, and left three dead in the Santa Monica Mountains in 2018. One of those lessons: Have a scanner radio so she and her…
Advice from experts on securing property insurance and keeping costs down
Advice from experts on securing property insurance and keeping costs down

As another insurer leaves California, organizations like United Policyholders and the Department of Insurance have tips and resources to help homeowners shop for coverage and challenge nonrenewal. Before settling for the California FAIR Plan, make sure to exhaust all other options. The California Department of…
Another insurer is leaving California. Here’s what the troubling trend could mean to North Bay homeowners
Another insurer is leaving California. Here’s what the troubling trend could mean to North Bay homeowners

A subsidiary of Farmers Insurance has become the latest in a long string of companies to leave or limit coverage in the state since May, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers and USAA. Yet another insurer is leaving the California market, affecting tens of thousands of…
Survivors Speak: Ten Days in Lahaina
Survivors Speak: Ten Days in Lahaina

Driving along the idyllic West Maui coast on a characteristically stunning day in early September, all looked as beautiful as ever. As I crested the hill on the south of end of Lahaina, John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ was playing on the radio. And I began to…
Mitigation Matters
Mitigation Matters

No matter where you live, if you’re a homeowner today, you need to do your best to maintain your property and take steps to avoid it being damaged or destroyed in a severe weather event. Why? 1) No place on earth is immune from risk…
Will this plan solve California’s insurance crisis? This is what you need to know
Will this plan solve California’s insurance crisis? This is what you need to know

A week after negotiations to save California’s faltering home insurance market stalled in the Legislature, the state’s top insurance regulator unveiled its own plan to save the effective value of a swap for the first. which is the state insurer. Under the proposed regulations announced…
What to know about California’s plan to fix its insurance crisis
What to know about California’s plan to fix its insurance crisis

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement last month of a major home insurance overhaul is being met with skepticism in some corners over fears the deal will cause rates to rise for the average homeowner, even as Sacramento seeks to safeguard the marketplace for millions of landowners.…
California’s New Home, Auto Insurance Strategy Is Controversial. Here’s Why
California’s New Home, Auto Insurance Strategy Is Controversial. Here’s Why

It happened like clockwork. On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order calling for swift action to expand insurance coverage options for consumers. Hours later, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara outlined what he termed “the largest insurance reform” in decades. The regulation, to be…
California Insurance Carriers Can Use Disaster Models for Pricing
California Insurance Carriers Can Use Disaster Models for Pricing

California has reached an “historic” agreement with insurance carriers to modernize the way pricing is related to the cost of disasters in order to stem an exodus of the largest carriers from the Golden State. After seven of the top 12 insurance carriers in California…
California announces changes to home insurance market to address wildfire coverage
California announces changes to home insurance market to address wildfire coverage

Wildfires have prompted some insurance companies to cease writing new policies In a bid to bolster wildfire coverage in the face of increasing natural disasters, California is set to revamp its home insurance market with a series of new regulations, announced last week. In recent…