Insurance
What insurers look for
California names a specific list of wildfire mitigation measures and requires insurers who price on wildfire risk to reflect them.
The list is not ours
10 CCR 2644.9, the regulation behind California's Safer from Wildfires program, sets out the mitigation measures a carrier has to take into account and reflect when it rates a property. The Department of Insurance requires carriers to build a discount or credit for each of those measures into the rates they file. We did not choose the list and we cannot add to it.
There are twelve measures in three groups.
Community level
- Fire Risk Reduction Community listing under Public Resources Code 4290.1
- Firewise USA site in good standing
The immediate surroundings of the building
- Clearing vegetation and debris from under decks
- Clearing vegetation and debris within five feet
- Noncombustible materials within five feet
- Removal of combustible structures within thirty feet
- Compliance with Public Resources Code 4291 defensible space
Building hardening
- A Class A fire rated roof
- Enclosed eaves
- Fire resistant vents
- Multipane windows or functional shutters
- At least six inches of noncombustible vertical clearance at the base of the wall
What the rule does and does not do
The regulation governs how a carrier prices a policy. It sets the categories, not the amounts, so the size of any credit is the carrier's own, filed with the state, and different from carrier to carrier. And it is a rule about pricing rather than acceptance. Nothing in it obliges any carrier to write or renew a policy on any property.
You are entitled to specifics
The same regulation requires a carrier to give you the property level wildfire risk score it holds for your address, where that score sits in its range, an explanation that refers to the features of your own property, and what each listed measure would do to your own policy. It also requires a revised score within thirty days after you complete a measure and ask for one. Most homeowners never ask.
Why documentation matters
A carrier will want evidence, not a claim. Photographs, dated records of the work, and a clear inventory of what is in place make the request straightforward to process. Work you cannot document is work an insurer cannot see.