Companies refusing to insure Idyllwild homes after ‘wildfire exposure’

Many living in wildfire-prone areas across the state of California are frustrated after receiving notices that their insurance companies will not renew their policies. Alternatively, some are now facing rates increasing by thousands of dollars.

News Channel 3’s Madison Weil spoke with a couple in Idyllwild who just received notice they are losing coverage through Farmers Insurance.

Neil Jenkins and his wife Donna Elliot are longtime residents of idyllwild. “It was the view from here that sold us the house,” said Elliot.

They’ve had Farmers home insurance for twenty years. “We got a letter in the mail saying that they will not be re-insuring due to fire risk,” said Jenkins, the letter in his hands.

“I think the profit that they made from those premiums more than covered the risk…so that’s why it is disappointing now,” added Elliot.

Jenkins has worked in the insurance field before. He says the state-wide cancellations go against the principle idea of insurance: “When you’ve had insurance for 20 years and you’ve paid those premiums every single year…quite frankly it’s close to immoral that they’d cancel it because the ‘risk is higher.’ I mean really the risk has been there for the past 20 years.”

They say they’ve had no claims and have done everything possible to reduce fire risk around their mountain home.

“It’s a brand new roof…so the shingles are fire resistant,” said Jenkins.

They say the fire resistant roof helped lower their premium in the past. They additionally have a heat-protective treatment on the exterior. “Everything around the house complies with the abatement. The trees are right distant from the chimney…if you go out the back then you’ll see that the ground is dirt it’s not leaf-litter or anything else,” said Jenkins.

“So you’re in full compliance, you’ve had no former claims, yet they’re still pulling insurance?” asked News Channel 3’s Madison Weil. “Yes,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins says the timing of the policy cancellation is ironic. After the Cranston Fire burned more than 13,000 acres, the risk should be lower this year than before: “You might argue that there’s less risk now because it’s already burned,” he said.

They say none of the major insurance companies they’ve checked with will insure their home now. “Basically you have to go through a broker that finds a specialist insurance for this area,” he said.

They say others in the community are dealing with the same challenge: a friend of theirs’ rate went from $2,500 to $8,000 per year. “We have to assume that that’s another method of cancelling insurance,” he said. Others in the town told Madison Weil many families are facing skyrocketing premiums as well.

Notices being sent out say customers might find alternative help through california’s “FAIR plan” — a state program designed to help those having trouble getting insured.

But for Neil and Donna and their home filled with irreplaceable art from their life of traveling, they say having less coverage or no insurance is simply not an option.

And with views like theirs from the place they call home, neither is relocating. But they know for some, that might the only option. “There’s going to be people that can’t afford it and that’s the real shame,” said Jenkins.