Insurance at peril for many in California’s risky fire areas

Last September, the Glass Fire destroyed more than 650 homes in Napa and Sonoma counties in California’s wine country, including as many as one-third of the homes in Deer Park. Even before the fire, insurers had dropped insurance for many residents of the community, which is in an area that the state fire agency, Cal Fire, designates as a wildfire “hazard severity zone.”

“I know a lot of people are deciding, if they do rebuild, can they get insurance?” Roger Lutz III, the Deer Park fire chief, told the Bee.

Last year, state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a moratorium that barred insurance companies from non-renewing or cancelling residential property policies for homes near or in areas that burned in 2020 wildfires. However, the mortatorium — the second in two years —expires in November, bringing a renewed threat of cancellation to more than 2 million policyholders while the summer-through-fall fire season is still in swing.

Lynn and Kirk Grace of Deer Park lost their home in the Glass Fire. The couple saved their dog and two horses but lost a cat and chickens, along with oak and fir trees.

The Graces were covered by the FAIR Plan but the couple told the Bee it won’t pay enough to rebuild their home, a project their contractor estimates will cost at least $800,000.

“We will be hundreds of thousands of dollars short,” Grace said. “A number of our neighbors are questioning whether they’re going to be able to do this.”