Homeowners in High Fire Risk Areas
Your home is quite possibly the largest investment you will ever make.
Facing a high fire risk area, we are experienced and will work with you to ensure you home is fully coverage, with the right coverages at the best possible price.
- Protection Class Protection classes are based on, in simple terms, the distance from your dwelling to nearest public fire hydrant, as well as distance to nearest Fire Station. There are more complexities to the equation and some examples include available and volume of water supply at Fire Station; Fire Station is manned or volunteer, and so on. This score ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest risk.
- Fireline score Fire-line scores range from 0 to 30, with 0 meaning little to no wildfire risk and 30 being extreme risk of wildfire. Naturally, the proximity to natural wildfire brush plays a major role in establishing your fireline score, but there are some other variables as well. One example is if the wild brush in close proximity to your home is a National Forest or a State Forest.
None the less, the result of the above is what each insurance company will use in calculating there acceptance or denial of the risk. Each carrier will have a different risk tolerance profile and these profiles can be modified annually. This is why some home get a non-renewal notification as their carrier reduced their risk profile. At the same time, some carriers may increase their risk tolerance. At Sanford Family Insurance, we are fortunate to have Farmers Insurance’s product portfolio, but in the circumstances that Farmers declines a home, we also have direct appointments with several other carriers of which some do have higher risk profiles. Let us do the shopping for you and we will find the best coverage, at the most reasonable price.
Traditional
Homeowners
If your scores are low enough, or you found a carrier accepting greater levels of risk, you are fortunate enough to get a traditional home policy.
CA Fair Plan
Difference In Condition
In the event that a carrier has declined and surplus line insurance is not a viable option, you will need to get a set of two policies, the CA Fair plan and a traditional carriers Difference in Condition coverage.
In this situation, CA Fair Plan covers your home for all matters fire related, including a wildfire or even a kitchen fire. The carriers DIC will cover your home for all remaining elements of a traditional homeowners policy. The two combined is equal to a traditional homeowners policy
Surplus Lines
When traditional carriers decline coverage due to high fire risks, our first step is to research the surplus line market on your behalf to see if we can find a viable alterative carrier to protect your home.
Kenny Guinn
