California to develop new rules on home ‘hardening’
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says the new standards aim to reduce wildfire risk and make insurance more affordable and available in California.
As wildfire seasons only continue to worsen in recent years, California state regulators announced new rules on home ‘hardening,’ creating incentives for retrofitting older homes to make them more resilient to fires.
This initiative is a joint effort by California’s Department of Insurance, Cal Fire, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the Public Utilities Commission and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
On Monday, Feb. 8, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said his office and these four state agencies will work together on new wildfire response and prevention initiatives to establish statewide standards for home hardening, including replacing single to dual-paned windows to create fire-resistant landscaping.
Lara expressed his hope that the new standards aim to reduce wildfire risk and make insurance more affordable and available in California, rewarding companies’ efforts “by putting money back into (homeowners’) pockets.”
The announcement aligned with Lara’s campaign to push insurance companies to resume selling policies and coverages to homeowners in fire-prone communities. According to Cal Fire, at least 3 million homes lie in these areas.
According to the most recent data collected by Lara’s office, between 2018 and 2019 insurers dropped residential policies statewide by 31%. Meanwhile, enrollments in the FAIR Plan, the state’s bare-bones fire insurance plan of last resort, jumped by 225%.
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