Do California wildfires have you nervous?  You aren't alone, and it's a serious problem right now.  Many insurance carriers are choosing not to write business in certain high exposure wildfire areas within the state.  Some carriers are leaving the state altogether.  What can be done, if anything to help the problem?

That issue seems to be the main topic as soon as we get to the agency each day.  Years ago, before the wildfires were so devastating and catastrophic, the answers were a bit easier to find.  If a homeowner performed their due diligence regarding wildfire mitigation, the insurance carriers would still underwrite a property based that individual exposure.  If the homeowner satisfied all the requirements of the carrier, then the policy would continue and be renewed.  Now, the process is much more computerized and not really done on an individual basis.  Wildfire mapping is used and certain formulas that only gifted people that graduated from MIT can explain.  Properties are mapped together and become just another building on a large wildfire map either inside or outside of what a carrier feels comfortable insuring.  It's a numbers game now.  

Is wildfire mitigation still important?  Without a doubt.  Even if it doesn't help you secure affordable insurance, it will help firefighters save your home in the wake of a wildfire.  Communities have begun the process of making towns more fire safe with large scale mitigation projects in and around the cities.  I believe this will in the long run definitely help the insurance situation for those in wildfire prone communities.  It will take time and plenty of work but it could save a town from the next big wildfire.  Insurance carriers will hopefully take those things into consideration when calculating rates and making products available in those areas.  Unfortunately, large wildfires seem to be the new normal now.  We are going to have to find a way to survive with them.