A long line of people snaked out the door of a meeting room at the Crown Valley Community Center in Laguna Niguel on a warm Thursday afternoon. Some were even turned away at the door once the room reached full capacity.
Residents in this part of Orange County had weathered the 200-acre Coastal Fire that had ripped through the Coronado Pointe community last year, prompting evacuations and leaving 20 burnt homes in its wake.
With it becoming increasingly difficult for California homeowners in risky areas to obtain insurance, Sen. Catherine Blakespear, whose district includes Laguna Niguel, hosted a wildfire insurance town hall with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara Thursday, Aug. 11, to give information on how wildfire preparedness can help with insurance.
“Clearly with your large attendance numbers today, you have spoken,” Laguna Niguel Councilmember Stephanie Oddo told the audience. “This is a major issue in our community and our region.”
Following a string of destructive and deadly fires in 2017 and 2018, insurance companies have ended coverage for tens of thousands of California homeowners as providers have pulled out of high fire-risk areas — forcing many homeowners to buy policies through the more expensive California FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort.
“Prices have increased,” said Lara. “Statewide premiums are still far lower than states like Texas and Florida. But as risk increases, so do premiums to a point where they are unaffordable.”
In Orange County, Lara said, the number of FAIR Plan policies, which are more costly than traditional policies, has nearly doubled from 2,500 in 2017 to 4,600 in 2021.
“The FAIR Plan has become the first and only option in some areas, not the last option which it should be,” Lara said. “That needs to change.”
“Reducing the risk is critical,” he said. “That’s where we actually have the power and control.”
And the Safer From Wildfires initiative, a 10-step…
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