losses News

California Wildfire Mitigation And Recovery Bill Package Introduced

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and a group of state lawmakers are pushing a 10-bill legislative package designed to improve disaster preparedness and help protect wildfire survivors. The bills intended focus are on consumer protection, climate resiliency and market strength. …

PG&E Needs California’s Help to Calm Investors Post-Fire, CEO Says

PG&E Corp. wants California to promptly shore up the state’s $21 billion insurance fund for utilities that is at risk of being drained following the recent devastating fires in the Los Angeles area. Investors are concerned that if neighboring utility …

2 Million Acres in California Designated High Or Very High Fire Danger Areas

Reflecting intensifying wildfires and updated science, new state maps designate more than 2.3 million acres of local land in California as facing “high” or “very high” danger of wildfires. In the wake of devastating fires in Los Angeles County, the …

Newsom Wants to Speed up Delayed Rule to Make California Homes More Fire Resistant

As Los Angeles reels from deadly January wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an order last week directing the state to advance long-delayed regulations requiring homeowners in high-risk areas to clear combustible materials around their …

Edison Probing Retired Power Line as Possible Start of LA Eaton Fire

Edison International’s utility is looking at whether a power line retired in 1971 started the Eaton wildfire as part of a probe into the cause of the blaze that razed more than 9,000 structures. Southern California Edison found evidence of …

LA Neighbors See Different Post-Wildfire Rebuilding Options Due to Insurance Crisis

Before a wildfire ravaged their street in northwest Altadena, Louise Hamlin and Chris Wilson lived next door to each other in nearly identical houses. “I chose an old home in an old neighborhood because it has soul,” said Hamlin, a …

AM Best: Wildfires Intensifying California’s Property Insurance Troubles

Wildfires are intensifying the problems in California’s property insurance market, according to a new commentary from AM Best. Those problems include a major insurer pullback from California in the past year, followed by the L.A. wildfires, which could result in …

Inside the LA Fire Cleanup’s Rush to Remove Tons of Toxic Rubble

Removing toxic waste from the foothills and coastal canyons where more than 16,000 homes and businesses burned down in the Los Angeles wildfires was always going to be an unprecedented challenge in a densely-populated, traffic-choked metropolis. And then the Trump …

Startup Accused of Gouging LA Fire Victims on Rent

A venture capital-backed startup illegally jacked up rents for furnished apartments in Los Angeles — more than 50% in one example — after last month’s wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes, the city attorney’s office alleged in a lawsuit. Blueground …

State Farm Seeking Interim 22% Rate Hike for Homeowners in Wake of LA Wildfires

State Farm General said on Monday it is asking the California Department of Insurance to immediately approve interim rate increases, including 22% average for homeowners. The carrier, the state’s top homeowners insurer, is partly blaming the devastating Los Angeles wildfires …