Debris and ash cleared, rebuilding starts for homes destroyed in Woolsey Fire
Debris and ash cleared, rebuilding starts for homes destroyed in Woolsey Fire

Work to remove ash and debris from last year’s destructive Hill and Woolsey fires has wrapped up, clearing the way for many homeowners to start to rebuild, officials said Wednesday. Calling it a monumental milestone, state and local officials were in Agoura Hills to talk…
Earthquake insurance: Is it worth it?
Earthquake insurance: Is it worth it?

Glenn Pomeroy, head of the California Earthquake Authority, spent the weekend in Ridgecrest, near the epicenter of Friday’s 7.1-magnitude quake and its day-earlier, 6.4-magnitude baby brother. “Driving around, you could clearly see there had been a disaster,” he told me. “Streetlights were blinking, stores were…
What Californians Need To Know To Financially Prepare For ‘The Big One’
What Californians Need To Know To Financially Prepare For ‘The Big One’

It’s an unnerving time to be in California. With two large earthquakes hitting Southern California within 34 hours, along with thousands of aftershocks, it feels like the big one is right around the corner – literally. In fact, the US Geological Society is predicting a…
Insurance Companies Say They’re Not Allowed to Plan for the ‘New Normal’ of Intense Wildfires
Insurance Companies Say They’re Not Allowed to Plan for the ‘New Normal’ of Intense Wildfires

Insurance companies says state regulators aren’t letting them plan for climate change and the so-called “new normal” of intense wildfires. They warn of price spikes and more people being denied coverage. Regulators worry the industry’s models aren’t credible, and could be manipulated to overcharge consumers.…
Can California avoid a third year of fire catastrophe? Here’s what’s been fixed — and what hasn’t
Can California avoid a third year of fire catastrophe? Here’s what’s been fixed — and what hasn’t

All signs point to another busy fire year in California. Already, a heat wave this month triggered hundreds of wildfires. They were mostly small burns, but they thrived off a healthy crop of brush nourished by the wet winter. As the state’s hills and valleys…
Why Safer Cars Don’t Lead To Cheaper Car Insurance … Yet
Why Safer Cars Don’t Lead To Cheaper Car Insurance … Yet

Many new cars sold today can take preemptive action to help prevent crashes — hitting the brakes before a collision, steering around obstacles or alerting drivers to hazards in their blind spots. Those safety features — collectively known as advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS —…
Options are few for storm-ravaged homes with insufficient insurance
Options are few for storm-ravaged homes with insufficient insurance

With the Atlantic hurricane season underway, homeowners should be aware that inadequate insurance coverage can make recovering from a bad situation even worse. Whether damage from a storm comes from wind or water, homeowners whose coverage is insufficient have discovered the hard way that it…
After the storm: Is your home under-insured?
After the storm: Is your home under-insured?

As North Texans grapple with damage claims following a weekend storm, estimates say 60% of homes don’t have enough coverage for full replacement. DALLAS — If there is one good thing to come out of the Sunday storms, it’s that all that damage might make…
Insurance commissioner asks insurers to extend benefits for 2017 fire survivors
Insurance commissioner asks insurers to extend benefits for 2017 fire survivors

State insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is seeking help from the industry he regulates for survivors of the Wine Country wildfires who are still struggling to rebuild their homes. After meeting in Santa Rosa on Tuesday night with city officials and block captains from neighborhoods ravaged…
California Wildfire Recovery: A Tale of Two Counties
California Wildfire Recovery: A Tale of Two Counties

NPQ has written before about how disasters tend to exacerbate existing economic inequality. Now, from Sara Viner of High Country News comes a story about California wildfires that reinforces this message. Examining two recent major California fires—the 2015 Valley Fire and the 2017 North Bay…
California’s Fires Hit Rich and Poor Communities. Guess Which Ones Are Recovering Faster.
California’s Fires Hit Rich and Poor Communities. Guess Which Ones Are Recovering Faster.

Fires are indiscriminate. Recovery isn’t. On the afternoon of September 12, 2015, the Valley Fire erupted near the outskirts of Cobb, California, an unincorporated community shadowed by Cobb Mountain in the Northern Interior of California. The fire grew so rapidly that it trapped the first…
Fires are indiscriminate. Recovery isn’t.
Fires are indiscriminate. Recovery isn’t.

On the afternoon of Sept. 12, 2015, the Valley Fire erupted near the outskirts of Cobb, California, an unincorporated community shadowed by Cobb Mountain in the Northern Interior of California. The fire grew so rapidly that it trapped the first responders from CalFire’s Helitack Crew…
Fanning The Flames Over Homeowners’ Fire Insurance Woes
Fanning The Flames Over Homeowners’ Fire Insurance Woes

Sonora, CA — Increasing difficulties homeowners and would-be buyers are experiencing with fire insurance has Mother Lode realtors, insurers, and government officials abuzz. Tuesday at the Tuolumne County Association of Realtors TCAR) Office, members who attended the recent California Association of Realtors CAR) Legislative Day…
I Wish It Would’ve Burned’: Navigating Insurance When Your Home Survives a Wildfire
I Wish It Would’ve Burned’: Navigating Insurance When Your Home Survives a Wildfire

After Misty Attaway and her family were forced to flee from the Camp Fire on the morning of Nov. 8, she heard some shocking news: Her home in Paradise, unlike much of the rest of the town, had survived. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m…
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara Holds Malibu Town Hall
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara Holds Malibu Town Hall

Even six months after the Woolsey Fire, some fire victims are still having difficulties collecting what they’re owed by their insurers; that includes residents with partial damage to their homes as well as those experiencing total losses. To help smooth the way, California’s top insurance…
How to make insurance affordable under climate change
How to make insurance affordable under climate change

Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance firm, lost $24 billion from last year’s California wildfires, and it says global warming made a “significant contribution.” Insurer Lloyd’s of London found warmer oceans, caused by climate change, made for a 30 percent increase in storm surge damage…
Insurance Coverage Drying Up As California Wildfire Recovery Drags On
Insurance Coverage Drying Up As California Wildfire Recovery Drags On

After the Tubbs Fire reduced their Santa Rosa, Calif., home to ash in October 2017, Chris Keys and his wife, Sara Jakel-Keys, said deciding to rebuild was easy. But a year and a half after the fire, the road to normalcy has proved longer and…
For California Fire Survivors, Rebuilding Can Be Long And Painful
For California Fire Survivors, Rebuilding Can Be Long And Painful

After the Tubbs fire reduced their Santa Rosa home to ash in October 2017, Chris Keys and his wife Sara Jakel Keys say deciding to rebuild was easy. But a year and a half later, the road to normalcy has proven longer and more painful…