Proposed regulations would compel insurers to account for wildfire mitigation efforts

A firefighting helicopter drops water on homes in Irvine Cove to protect them from the Emerald fire on Feb. 10. Insurance providers in California will have to incorporate proactive wildfire mitigation efforts into their rates for homeowners and businesses under proposed new regulations, state officials announced Friday. “Holding insurance companies accountable for accurately rating wildfire risk in the premiums they charge Californians will help save lives and reduce losses,” Lara said. “By rewarding homeowners and businesses for the wildfire safety actions they take, these regulations will be a huge assist to our efforts to prevent the severe loss of life and property from wildfires like we saw in the devastating Thomas fire and debris flow that followed,” Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor said in a statement about the proposed regulations. “There’s no transparency for the insured customer to make an assessment of the validity of the formula, the currency of the data or the consistency of the application to their properties.” El Dorado County resident Chris Swarbrick, who is also a member of the county’s Fire Protection District, said his rates had increased by 430% in two years, and that many residents in the community had been unable to get insurers to visit their properties to assess home hardening efforts.