Since most of our wildfires are accompanied by heavy winds, these embers can be blown far from where the main force of firefighters may be situated. If the homeowners are already evacuated, no one is there to call 911 and if the homeowners are there, calling 911 is not a guarantee either. (Credit: Noah Berger via AP)
In the last five years, the Californian wildfire problem has started to majorly influence the insurance market. The eight largest California wildfires have all occurred since December 2017. Forty-thousand structures have been destroyed and tens of thousands more had soot damage, and according to Mark Sektnan of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, "Insurers in some cases paid out more than four dollars for every dollar that they took in." And at the end of 2021, we had our first major departure as AIG is no longer offering admitted insurance coverage in California.
I have worked closely with some of the best insurance brokers in the country and they have been faced with the burden of marketing policies with increased deductibles, sky-high premiums and reduced coverage. The number one question I've been asked is: How can we make our homes more insurable and less disaster-prone?
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