The Latest Fire Insurance Information for California

The first crisis is the fires and next comes the fire insurance fallout, not just for those who have lost their homes and live in the immediate area, but also for those who live in surrounding areas. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says insurance companies should not be able to cancel or drastically increase premiums in surrounding zip codes retroactively. So if companies sent out a cancellation notice or were asking for a big increase between October 9, 2024 and January 7, 2025 they should rescind it. 

In addition, an important consumer protection law in CA requires a mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance companies canceling or non-renewing residential insurance policies in certain areas within or adjacent to a fire perimeter after a declared state of emergency is issued. Governor Newsom issued a state of emergency on January 7, 2025.  This one-year protection applies to all residential policyholders, including condo unit owners, mobile homeowners or renters within the affected areas who suffer less than a total loss and those who suffer no loss. See below for a list of zip codes that this moratorium applies to.