In the Line of Fire: California’s Aftermath

Last week, wildfires burned through 517,450 acres of Southern California, destroying 2,923 structures and damaging an additional 504. The fires, spurred by the Santa Anna winds, spread across seven counties, leaving many people homeless and many independent agents working overtime to assist customers. 
 
Southern California is picking up the pieces after the worst wildfire outbreak since 2003 and independent agents, including Mike Stromsoe of Stromsoe Insurance Agency in Murrieta, Calif., are doing everything they can to help. Stromsoe, whose own home is located less than a mile from one of the fires, has spent most of the past week in the Fallbrook Community Center answering victims’ questions and setting up claims. 
 
“People would come up to the table and I had a list of all our companies and the special claims numbers we had set up, and we were able to quickly get them set up with claims department,” he says. “Some carriers were on site….and handed over checks right there. 
 
“I wrote a list every day before I started and the thing at top of my list every day was to be compassionate,” he continues. “Just watching them (victims) have to go through this and knowing they have to start all over again was tough. The industry so far has done a very good job and our local community and Fallbrook --- I just can’t say enough. There were more volunteers at the center than there were people who needed help.” 
 
Stromsoe estimates that about 41 of his insureds were affected by the fires, but says the fires should act as an important reminder to all agents and their customers to make sure proper coverages are in place. 
 
“From an insurance standpoint, the No. 1 thing is coverage,” he says. “I think it’s an ongoing process to make sure our clients have the right coverage in place. I can’t tell you the number of people who said ‘I’m not sure if I have enough coverage.’” 
 
According to an estimate from California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, approximately a quarter of the homes destroyed by fire were underinsured. 
 
“I am issuing a declaration which will expedite additional insurance adjusters to California to assist survivors of the fire storms with the prompt processing of insurance claims resulting from this catastrophic event,” Poizner said in a statement last week. “During this state of emergency, I want to ensure Californians that I will do all that I can to help them through this crisis and rebuild as quickly as possible. For many, the first step on the road to recovery is to cut through the red tape and have their loss documented and processed for a claim. We want to remove any unnecessary delays to the system and make sure we have enough adjusters on the job.” 
 
The Insurance Information Institute expects that insurers will pay as much as $1.6 billion in claims to thousands of policyholders in California as a result of the fires. The state’s last major wildfire outbreak in 2003 caused $1.1 billion in losses. 
 
Policyholders whose homes or businesses were destroyed in the fires shouldn’t expect to see an increase in their premiums or have policies canceled, according to the I.I.I., and rates shouldn’t go up for homeowners who don’t live in fire-prone areas of the state. Rates for insureds outside the state also shouldn’t be affected by the fires, according to Robert Hartwig, I.I.I. president. 
 
“The homeowner and commercial markets in California are generally healthy and competitive and, for the most part, events like this are already factored into rates,” Hartwig says. “Despite the magnitude of the loss, this event at this point is well within the range of what insurers anticipated and, in and of itself, should not drive up rates.” 
 
While the wildfires have subsided, many homeowners in the San Diego area are still at r