Washington insurance commissioner discusses help for wildfire victims, fire mitigation during visit to Spokane

Mitchell Roland, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.Spokesman-Review

Aug. 6—Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer said Wednesday her office is surging additional personnel to Spokane to answer questions and help those impacted by this weekend's Spokane Complex fires file insurance claims.

Representatives from her office will be at Shadle Park High School, 4327 N. Ash St., from noon to 7 p.m. on Thursday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Friday through Sunday. At her request, representatives from a dozen insurance companies also will be on hand to answer questions and help file claims.

"As long as the folks over here need help with processing insurance claims, we're going to be here to help them," Kuderer said in an interview.

Kuderer, who postponed a town hall scheduled for Wednesday evening, met with fire officials and local elected officials during her visit to Spokane this week.

Kuderer said questions to her office frequently focus on how to get a claim processed and what their policies cover.

"We have a consumer protection division within the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, with highly skilled and empathetic workers, who assist folks in situations just like this," Kuderer said. "And we have several of them here in Spokane for the disaster assistance center, which will be open tomorrow, and they'll be here through Sunday."

Those with questions also can call the office at 800-562-6900 to receive help with their claim.

"Our office, you know, we make sure that insurance companies follow their contract and follow the law," Kuderer said. "That's our job."

Kuderer said she's restructured her office to establish a consumer outreach and disaster response program to aid in the response to natural disasters.

"We created these toolkits that folks can use when they are starting to get ready to process an insurance claim," Kuderer said. "It will help them organize their thoughts, it'll help them with getting their insurance policy, and it'll have them think about things like how to be aware of fraud."

On Monday, Kuderer issued an order asking insurance companies to provide premium grace periods to anyone impacted by the fire. The order directs insurance companies to provide a 45-day grace period for payments, waive late fees, not cancel policies for nonpayment, and extend the nonrenewal notice period from 60 days to 120 days for property coverage and from 20 to 60 days for auto coverage.

The order applies to ZIP codes impacted by the wildfires. The order will run through the end of September, but can be extended.

"When people, you know, are in a situation like this, when tragedy strikes, they're overwhelmed, the last thing they're thinking about is how they're going to pay their insurance premiums," Kuderer said.

Still, in recent years, it has become more challenging for homeowners in wildfire-prone areas to obtain insurance. In January, her office said that policy nonrenewal had doubled since 2021, and her office is tracking where these nonrenewals take place.

Homeowners also have told her office that companies have either canceled their plans or didn't renew their policies due to perceived risk of wildfires. The fires this week, Kuderer said, could result in more insurance nonrenewals or cancellations.

"If the risk is perceived as higher, then businesses are going, and these insurance companies are businesses; they're going to make a decision that they might not want to write in a certain area," Kuderer said.

Kuderer also pointed to the "insurance of last resort" known as the fair plan, which she said is a "bare bones policy" that's "very expensive."

"It's designed to keep people from violating their mortgage, so that they can have homeowners insurance," Kuderer said.

Kuderer, who took office in 2025, has pushed lawmakers to enact additional protections for homeowners in wildfire-prone areas. During the 2026 legislative session, Kuderer proposed a voluntary grant program that would help homeowners make their homes more resistant to wildfires. Kuderer also pushed for a law that would require insurance companies to disclose the wildfire risk scores they use to determine eligibility for insurance.

Under the grant program, funding would come from a surcharge on insurance companies.

"And I think that's fair, because a program like this essentially underwrites the business model of the property casualty insurance companies. It makes these homes more appealing from a risk perspective to be insured," Kuderer said. "And so, it increases the marketability of the home that way."

While both proposals passed the state Senate, they died in the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee. Kuderer said her office is "still trying to figure out" why the proposals stalled.

"This is just common sense. I mean, those bills were strongly supported with bipartisan effort out of the Senate," Kuderer said. "And, you know, the reality is we're living in a world where climate change is really accelerating these natural catastrophes. And we have to be better prepared."

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Disaster Assistance Center at Shadle Park High School does not open until noon on Thursday.