The California Department of Insurance held a presentation at the City Council meeting on the evening of Monday, Aug. 23 – an overview of the Safe from Wildfires Framework.
The CDI has met with 25,000 people at 60 virtual events in 40 counties since 2019, to “hear wildfire and insurance concerns.” After listening to those concerns, the CDO “removed barriers to allow wildfire survivors to receive critical insurance benefits” through coverage for evacuation expenses, extensions to additional living expenses, and it created disclosures and coverage to meet upgraded building codes.
The Safer from Wildfires program was launched in January of this year, and it “is an interagency partnership between Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the state’s emergency response and readiness agencies to protect lives, homes, and businesses by reducing wildfire risk.”
They do this by protecting building structure, protecting the immediate surroundings, and working together as a community.
New regulations will require “insurance companies to factor consumers’ and businesses’ wildfire safety actions into their pricing, provide consumers with transparency about their ‘wildfire risk score’ that insurance companies assign to properties, and give consumers the right to appeal their risk determination.”
Importantly, the CDI says that these steps are working. The number of homeowners non-renewed by insurance companies fell by 10 percent statewide in 2020.