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California To Protect Insurance Policies In Wildfire Areas

Daria Devyatkina
/
Flickr / Creative Commons
California Wildfires

The National Weather Service forecasts widespread rainstorms across the Bay Area this weekend, which could help bring an end to fire season. But state regulators say the impacts of this year’s fires continue — when it comes to insurance coverage.

 

 

 

California told insurance companies today that they can’t stop covering customers in areas affected by wildfires. According to the Insurance Commissioner, the order will cover at least eight hundred thousand homes.

 

The policy will last for one year. And it includes people who live near any of the 16 recent wildfires in California.

 

This is the first time the state has used a new law that took effect in January. The law was designed to give homeowners more time to find insurance coverage amidst the growing threat of wildfires.

 

Earlier this year, the state released data showing that insurance is becoming harder to find in wildfire risk areas.

 

For more information, and to find out whether you’re included in the announcement, you can visit the California Insurance Department’s website.

 

Ozzy Llinas Goodman is a freelance writer and journalist based in Berkeley. Their reporting interests include the uses and policing of public space, underground communities and solidarity economies, and other topics related to human movement, urban space, and civil rights.