Wildfires and Homeowners Insurance

Homeowners covers fire

Because fire is a routine risk. Flooding is not.

There's also not a national fire insurance program.

Hope Kanye got some

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why insurance will cover all these homes and businesses destroyed by wildfires but won’t pay for floods?

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Because the typical homeowners policy covers fire but not flood. I bet you didn’t even read yours. A casual glance at it and you could’ve answered your own question.

Because insurance companies can spread the fire risk around a large pool. Flood policies are heavily concentrated in high risk areas, which doesn’t allow them to spread the risk around nearly as much.

Fire insurance was very early in England, our legal daddy.
Your flotsam and jetsam was early too.

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won’t pay for floods?

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Separate policy based on flood maps. Depending on your zone at closing of the mortgage, it's either required or not. If it's not, you take the risk. I had a friend that lost his home in 2016 in north Louisiana due to 20+" of rain gripes about his closer who didn't put it on and blamed her. I told him that in his zone, it would have an additional $10/month to add it, just in case. It was his fault. To be honest, I saw that house flooded twice in my life but they moved here and didn't know. My parents still carry it up here in the north part of the state. It's cheap in non flood zones and you are covered, just in case.

I’m talking the California wildfires not a random house fire. I assume the rates will go way up in California.

I would guess risks are already factored into price of the premiums


Similar to coast where hurricanes are common

There are some wildfire areas that companies won’t write homeowners. The peril of fire is a risk that can be spread across large risk pools. Flood cannot and shouldn’t. Someone living in the mountains of Colorado shouldn’t be subsidizing my premiums in Louisiana.