Aromas 'firewise community' hosts home insurance clinic

Lea este articulo en español aquí.

Robin Brown, a real estate agent, and Johnny Kane, a commercial insurance broker from the KBK insurance agency, were guest speakers on Feb. 21 at the Home Fire Insurance Clinic event sponsored by the Rancho Aromitas Firewise Community (RAFC). Brown and Kane shared behind-the-scenes insights about home insurance in California with concerned Aromas residents, many of which had received notices of cancellation or mitigation of their home insurance coverage.

"We all know Aromas is a high fire risk area," Brown told participants. The firewise community began last fall "with the goal of reducing wildfire risk to homes in Aromas," according to their January 2024 newsletter.

Rick Mazzarella, RAFC board president, added that the community takes "a two-fold approach. First, we focus on identifying fire risks on individual properties, and then we identify community risks to identify fire hazards."

Brown and Kane began with insights into California's home insurance market.

According to Brown, "acquiring insurance used to be the last thing we did [as real estate agents], now it's one of the first things we do, especially in higher fire areas like Aromas."

Kane focused his remarks on the industry. It's his belief that the policies of state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara have pushed many home insurers out of the California market.

"All those carriers are admitted market carriers, they are financially regulated by the state of California, they must file their rates and get approved for rate increases and Lara has consistently declined their rate increases," Kane said. "To do business in California is really expensive, and if you are paying out more in claims for catastrophes than you are bringing in, you can't operate that way."

Kane asked for a show of hands of those who had received letters of cancellation or mitigation (such as home hardening) of their home insurance, Mazzarella estimated that 75% of the audience raised their hands.

Asked for specific insurance providers that had sent audience members cancellation or mitigation notices, two audience members indicated All-State, four State Farm, one Nationwide, one Traveler's Insurance, four Farmers Insurance Group, and six AAA Insurance.

As Kane responded to questions, participants expressed frustration with their insurers and the state's insurance policies.

Participants asked questions related to the politics of keeping insurance companies within California, and others asked how insurance companies determine the rating and evaluation of what areas are a "high fire risk" area.

One audience member lamented that she lived in Monterey County and that when she wanted to fire harden her home for insurance purposes, she was met with county ordinance pushback against cutting down trees or removing debris that placed her home at higher fire risk. "Will you [insurance companies] work with us to get past these hurdles?" she asked Kane.

Kane said, "I don't know if insurance carriers are working with the state for permitting purposes. I will say five years ago, they would be open to it. In this current market, it's so fragmented and so disrupted that it's not a factor."

In the meantime, RAFC is working to get community members in Aromas Firewise certified as a way to prepare the community for future wildfires and as a possible way to keep insurance providers in the area.

RAFC's next workshop is on April 14 and it will concern home hardening, defensible space and evacuation plans for wildfires.

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