United Policyholders, a non-profit whose mission is to be "a trustworthy and useful information resource and respected voice for consumers." Good information on buying insurance and navigating claims. Suggested to us by a Cal Fire deputy chief.
From the California Dept. of Insurance, check out these "Safer from Wildfire" Guidelines for obtaining discounts.
Feb 2024 PDF/Powerpoint presented by Jim Mathias, Fire Safe Council, with information about available discounts on insurance now required by the state.
The March 2021 Coalition meeting was on the topic of insurance, with three speakers giving background from a state, county and local (Fire Safe Council) perspective. A 53-minute edited video of just those speakers can be viewed here.
Many local residents are facing cancellation of their homeowners insurance. Unfortunately, almost nothing can be done at the local level to help with this problem. This page provides a few resources that might help you figure out your next steps.
You may not know that all local insurance agencies, even those affiliated with the same national brand, are independently owned brokerages that have different relationships with different Surplus Line Insurers (see definition of that below). This means that if one Allstate (for example) agent can't help you, another Allstate agent might be able to. You have to make a lot of phone calls. Call around.
List of Approved Surplus Line Insurers (LASLI) (click here)
What does "Surplus Lines" mean? Often called the “safety valve” of the insurance industry, surplus lines insurers (which are usually non-admitted carriers, see below) fill the need for coverage in the marketplace by insuring those risks that are declined by the standard underwriting and pricing processes of admitted insurance carriers.
Admitted vs Non-Admitted Insurance Company - what does that mean? PDF
Website of the California Fair Plan - insurer of last resort.
As of early 2021, Commissioner Lara has made progress in providing resources relative to wildfire and insurance concerns. Here is the website page for Wildfire Response and Readiness on the California Department of Insurance website.
The following relates to Coalition activities only -- not helpful for individual residents
Insurance Questionnaire PDF For Coalition Survey
Insurance Questionnaire Word (Type directly onto document and return to Bob as attachment)
Fire Threat Areas - Map from the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC)