How Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable
How Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable

California’s wildfires keep growing bigger, more frequent and more destructive. Of the 20 worst wildfires in state history, four were just last year, giving rise to a record $12.6 billion of insurance claims. It hasn’t gotten any better this year. The Mendocino Complex Fire in…
Maximizing Insurance Payouts After The California Fires
Maximizing Insurance Payouts After The California Fires

It is estimated that there are over 13.5 million homes in California and one-third of those are located in or near areas vulnerable to wildfires. Unfortunately, for those of us who live and work in California, wildfires are an annual occurrence that have, in recent…
1 Woman Who Lost Her Home To A Fire In 2003 Steps In To Help Victims Of Woolsey Fire
1 Woman Who Lost Her Home To A Fire In 2003 Steps In To Help Victims Of Woolsey Fire

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with fire survivor Karen Reimus whose house burned down in San Diego in 2003. She will be volunteering at a local assistance shelter to help survivors of the wildfires. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: California’s increasing and increasingly destructive wildfires have created a…
For California fire victims, it will be a long, tough road to rebuild
For California fire victims, it will be a long, tough road to rebuild

The fires that tore through California in the past week have reduced homes to ash, upending lives and leaving thousands in sudden need of shelter. But beyond the immediate challenges of finding a place to live in a state with a perpetual shortage of housing,…
Tips and Tools for Making Sure You’re Properly Insured in the Event of a Wildfire
Tips and Tools for Making Sure You’re Properly Insured in the Event of a Wildfire

If you didn’t lose your home, these fires are a startling reminder of the importance of being properly insured. In fact, advocacy group United Policyholders says two-thirds of wildfire victims are under-insured by more than $100,000. Here are tips for making sure you’re protected. First,…
Fire victms may have insurance coverage, but …
Fire victms may have insurance coverage, but …

Consumer advice: There are many ways policies fall short of what homeowners actually lose. The vast majority of California homeowners have insurance that covers fire damage. But that doesn’t mean they can breathe easy. Property insurance lawyers say it’s not uncommon for some insurers to…
Fire-weary California homeowners face long road to recovery
Fire-weary California homeowners face long road to recovery

Californians who lost a home to the state’s wildfires could face a nightmarish recovery as they try to rebuild. It’s always a challenge to recuperate after any disaster, but California residents face a unique problem. Experts say the seemingly endless series of devastating wildfires in…
How to deal with an insurer after your home is burned down
How to deal with an insurer after your home is burned down

The vast majority of California homeowners have insurance that covers fire damage. But that doesn’t mean you can breathe easy. Property insurance lawyers say it’s not uncommon for insurers to do everything possible to minimize payouts, especially after catastrophic blazes such as the ones now…
State senator and businessman run for state insurance commissioner post in wildfire aftermath
State senator and businessman run for state insurance commissioner post in wildfire aftermath

The race for California insurance commissioner this year has taken on greater importance for North Bay residents, after many have found themselves with homes underinsured as a result of last year’s wildfires. And reforms to overhaul homeowner insurance regulations to provide more ways to help…
Will Home Insurance Pay To Fully Rebuild? Probably Not
Will Home Insurance Pay To Fully Rebuild? Probably Not

It’s been 12 months since Madonna Day’s home burned down in the North Bay wildfires. “I miss it so much,” she said. “My whole life’s treasures and memories are gone to ash.” She and her daughter Marie-Louise Clark are eager to rebuild the farmhouse they…
Joint hearing addresses insurance concerns from North Bay fire victims
Joint hearing addresses insurance concerns from North Bay fire victims

NAPA, Calif.KTVU) – A joint hearing of the state Assembly and Senate Insurance Committees took place at Napa Valley College on Tuesday. The hearing comes after many key proposed reforms, were defeated in the Legislature. The hearing explored if homeowner’s insurance coverage actually meets the…
One year after California’s most devastating wildfire, Santa Rosa is a patchwork of loss and renewal
One year after California’s most devastating wildfire, Santa Rosa is a patchwork of loss and renewal

It was just one year ago when Tricia Woods lost her home in a single, impossible instant. The Tubbs fire, the most destructive wildfire in California history, had ripped through Sonoma County and incinerated more than 5,500 homes, including the middle school teacher’s own four-bedroom…
Many Black Forest residents were thrilled to find their property intact after the 2013 wildfire. For some, the ordeal was just beginning.
Many Black Forest residents were thrilled to find their property intact after the 2013 wildfire. For some, the ordeal was just beginning.

Properties classified as “partial loss” sometimes become the object of intense disagreement between homeowners and insurers BLACK FOREST — At first, Nancy Trosper could hardly believe her good fortune. Although she initially heard that her house had burned to the ground in the disastrous 2013…
How Napa County is overcoming sense of uncertainty after the October 2017 wildfires
How Napa County is overcoming sense of uncertainty after the October 2017 wildfires

So many people living in the North Bay counties of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino had their lives changed one year ago. Our friends and neighbors in Lake County had endured an unprecedented firestorm two years earlier in their area; the October 2017 fires were a…
Under-insured homeowners left without enough to rebuild after North Bay Fires
Under-insured homeowners left without enough to rebuild after North Bay Fires

On the anniversary of the North Bay Fires that burned thousands of homes to the ground in Santa Rosa, we are finding many homeowners will not have the cash to rebuild. Why? They were under-insured, they say, through no fault of their own. A month…
Survivors of Northern California wildfires are facing ‘no win’ decisions on rebuilding
Survivors of Northern California wildfires are facing ‘no win’ decisions on rebuilding

At a recent event for people who lost their homes in last year’s fires, a local yoga business owner led the room through a mediation exercise. She led off by sharing that her childhood home had been destroyed in the fires, and then dimmed the…
A year later, majority of North Bay fire victims still await reimbursements from home insurers to rebuild
A year later, majority of North Bay fire victims still await reimbursements from home insurers to rebuild

Consider the unfortunate plight of Laney Wall and Scott Rooks. They were married Sunday but remain unable to start building a new house to replace their Santa Rosa home that burned down in last October’s wildfire. The two are Air Force veterans who served in…
Hurricane Florence Aftermath: The Best Financial Options for Repairing Your Home
Hurricane Florence Aftermath: The Best Financial Options for Repairing Your Home

More than two weeks after Hurricane Florence’s devastating crawl across the Carolinas and Virginia, many homeowners are assessing the damage and beginning to make repairs. According to real estate data provider CoreLogic, the storm affected 624,000 homes, the vast majority unprotected by flood insurance. Standard…