The wildfires that tore through multiple counties in Southern California over the past week are raising new concerns about fire insurance rates.
Some insurers have put a temporary halt to issuing new policies in the area, while homeowners fear the rates could go so high now they’d be force to move.
Rick Page lives in El Cariso Village in Lake Elsinore but can’t go back home yet. His house survived the Airport Fire, while many of his neighbors’ homes did not.
“Pretty much every house in a row up until mine is gone,” says Page.
Now he’s worried about what will happen next with his homeowners insurance.
“I know a lot of people up there more than likely don’t have insurance anyhow,” he says. “They just can’t afford it.”
Three major wildfires in Southern California have burned tens of thousands of acres in the past week. Because of these fires some insurance companies have instituted a moratorium on any new policies for the time being.
Rick Dinger from Crescenta Valley Insurance says some companies are informing him he “can’t write until further notice, because obviously they don’t want to be charting new policies when there’s a fire burning next door.”