On Tuesday, January 21, 2025 KPBS ran a story about the risks of wildfire due to illegal camping near Kensington. Amy Dyson, Judy Harrington and Mike Baldwin, all KFS board members, were interviewed. Watch the story.
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Where Do You Go for Wildfire Info?
By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe Kensington’s Fire Safe Council will share researched answers to your inquiries here. Send fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org.. Pictures appreciated!
Last month’s Montezuma Fire spurred over 85 questions from residents, both during the blaze, and later from the 260 folks at the SD Fire-Rescue “What Happened and What’s Next” follow-up presentation, November 21st at Hoover High School.
This is the first installment of answers to questions we were unable to get to during the event. We’ll be publishing them here as well as on Nextdoor and our website.
If you missed this detailed presentation check it out at kensingtonfiresafe.org. You’ll learn exactly how flames entered and destroyed one home, instead of the dozen or more that firefighters initially thought would be lost in the blaze.
Q: What are the best sources for wildfire updates?
A: San Diego’s Office of Emergency Services website recommends downloading Genasys Protect for real time danger and evacuation notifications provided by authorized public officials. It divides a county into smaller zones, each with a unique identifier to help officials communicate about affected areas much more quickly than in the past. More information at protect.genasys.com.
Most people we talked to during the fire were using the WatchDuty mobile app, although it didn’t seem to have very frequent updates. According to a Washington Post article last June, it’s a successful but low-budget service mostly run by volunteers, including retired firefighters, who pull info from law enforcement sites, news briefings, video feeds of fires, radio communications and other sources.
We should all register our cellphone # and email address with AlertSanDiego. Emergency responders use it to send evacuation and incident information. Their disaster feed also provides some basic data on current and past fires.
San Diego Fire-Rescue Department’s “X” feed also lists fires and provides background info. https://x.com/SDFD/status/1852497271625269360.
You can sign up for SDG&E power shut off alerts at: https://www.sdge.com/notifications. Even if you are not the bill payor, you can register on the app so you also get the alerts. Be sure to keep your contact info updated.
ALERTCalifornia (https://alertcalifornia.org/) utilizes AI for detecting smoke and other early fire indications via over 1,000 cameras placed in various forests. In the first two months of use, it correctly identified 77 fires before any 911 calls came in.However, it didn’t detect the Montezuma fire – likely because the closest camera appears to be at Cowles Mountain.
A wildfire-focused UC-Berkley engineering professor, who mostly uses Watch Duty for fire info, warned that apps can’t take the place of official communications from government agencies: “No information source is completely reliable. Mobile phone and internet service can fail during fires and cut people off from communications.(1)
So maybe keep those radios and TVs on too, plus have a portable charger ready for your cell phone, in case power is shut off.
Q: What does it really mean when a wildfire is “contained”?
A: During the recent fire, many were confused by the low “% contained” reports even after the highly visible flames were gone and smoke was a mere fraction of what was previously witnessed.
Deputy Fire Chief/Fire Marshal Anthony Tosca explained to us that flame and smoke do not determine the degree of “containment” in a vegetation fire. Instead, the term refers to the extent to which fire crews have managed to create a barrier around the fire’s perimeter to stop it from spreading. This barrier or “fire line”, is created by removing vegetation and other flammable materials or using natural or constructed breaks in the landscape to act as a boundary.
For example, when a fire is “50% contained” it means that half of the fire’s perimeter is surrounded by these controlled barriers. Full containment, at 100%, means the entire perimeter of the fire is encircled by a fire line, greatly reducing the risk of further spread.
Q: If you have time, should you hose down your yard and home before leaving?
A: Again, Chief Tosca clarified for us: “Hosing down your yard and home before evacuating may seem like a good idea, but it’s not recommended for a few reasons:
1. Water Won’t Last: The water you spray on your home will quickly evaporate, especially in the heat and wind of a wildfire. Once it dries, it won’t provide any lasting protection, and your home would be just as vulnerable as if it hadn’t been watered at all.
2. Every minute counts: Hosing down your yard and home can take valuable time and increase the risk of you being caught by the fire. Better to leave promptly and let firefighting teams manage structure protection.
3. Water Pressure for Firefighting: In a wildfire situation, firefighting crews rely on a consistent water supply to combat the fire. Excessive water use by homeowners can reduce water pressure, which may impact firefighters’ ability to protect your neighborhood.”
Extra! Extra!
Help save firefighters lives – when you see the flashing lights of a red fire truck that’s positioned diagonally across a highway lane, it’s to block traffic away from the ambulance and mangled car in front. At 65+ mph, cars zipping in front of that truck put firefighters and emergency personnel’s lives at risk! Please do not rush back into the lane as soon as you pass the fire truck. Stay away until you are well past the accident!
(1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/21/wildfire-tracker-map-app/
By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe (KFS)
Kensington’s Fire Safe Council will share researched answers to your inquiries here. Send fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org. Pictures appreciated!
Q: Are We a “Fire Risk Reduction Community”?
A: A neighbor recently contacted us about this question on a homeowner insurance application: Is Kensington either a “Fire Risk Reduction Community” or a “Firewise Community?”
Sorry, nope – we’re not either one, but wish we were.
Attaining a Firewise designation is a very challenging, long-term process requiring a lot of volunteer residential involvement. It’s likely more achievable for condo associations. According to the Firewise website, some insurance companies do offer discounts to residents residing in Firewise USA sites. (https://www.nfpa.org/)
On the other hand, a “Fire Risk Reduction Community” designation or “FRRC” seems more do-able. It requires local community assessment of fire vulnerabilities and a comprehensive plan to reduce risks. While San Diego County is on the list of FRRCs, the City of San Diego is not. We reached out to Fire Marshall Anthony Tosca about it, and he said the city plans to apply for this designation next time the opportunity becomes available. Perhaps this designation might mean a possible rate discount in the future for homeowners.
Meanwhile, if you want to see how your insurance costs compare to others, you could check out Bankrate’s website, although our insurance advisor, Scott Caraveo said they only list insurers who pay to be listed, and some aren’t doing business in California. If you submit your contact info, you’re likely to be bombarded with phone calls and emails from brokers. https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/homeowners-insurance/homeowners-insurance-cost/
BTW, there’s also something called a Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange” (CLUE) report on a homeowners insurance claims history. Homeowners can request a copy under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, toll-free at 1-866-312-8076 or by visiting consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com. Scott says insurance companies use reports like CLUE all the time, but CLUE reports don’t always include your specific claims history – it could include claims made at the property before you owned it or claims you made at a prior residence. In any case, insurance carriers already know about these events and are taking them into consideration each year.
Is My Home’s Fire Score Online?
Thank you, Sandra Johnson, for pointing out to us that some real estate sites are now including a fire risk score. I checked Realtor.com for a house for sale on Sussex, and here’s what it showed:
Glad to see it says “minimal” although, that seems odd since much of Kensington is designated a Very High Fire Risk Hazard Area. Both Scott and I wonder about the accuracy of these ratings. Realtor.com has a pretty good Q&A on their scoring: https://www.realtor.com/wildfire-risk/.
Other sites also providing fire ratings include:
- Wildfirerisk.org: Shows risks on a color-coded map when you search by town, county, or state.
- Riskfactor.com: Shows a fire score for any property in the continental USA. The fire factor scale ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating no modeled exposure to wildfire and 10 indicating a greater than 36% chance of burning over 30 years.
- FirstStreet.org: Bases wildfire risk on a region’s vegetation, topography, and fire-related weather.
- ClimateCheck: Provides a free climate risk assessment for any address in the U.S.
- CoreLogic: Provides a wildfire risk score that evaluates available fuel, as well as the topography of the land.
While these may be good tools for selling a house, they’re unlikely to sway insurance companies on your property’s safety. More accurate may be the Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps, although I find them a bit hard to work with since they don’t name major roads and highways. They can be found at: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/
We wish all those struggling to keep, find or afford their insurance luck – we’ve had our own challenges too!
Fire-safe Materials?
Last note – a reader of our Sept-Oct column on Zone Zero asked if there are any non-flammable cushions one could have on porch wrought iron furniture and still meet the future five-foot-from-the house zero flammability requirement. Any thoughts on that, folks?
Residents give firefighters a long standing ovation for their success in fighting the Montezuma Fire, at the recent community forum sponsored by Kensington Fire Safe and Alvarado Estates Fire Safe Council.
On October 31, 2024, San Diego witnessed its second-largest fire in history. The Montezuma Fire, which erupted on Montezuma Road just east of Fairmount Avenue, drew a massive emergency response. Within about 10 minutes, the first crews arrived on the scene. Over 350 personnel—including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, engine strike teams, hand crews, and specialty apparatus from CalFire, San Diego Police, and other agencies—worked tirelessly to contain the blaze.
Their efforts paid off. Despite early concerns that the fire would devastate multiple homes, only one house was damaged beyond repair.
(For more information on the Montezuma fire read Alvarado Estates Fire Safe Council Chair Karen Austin’s article.)
On November 21, nearly 300 residents gathered at Hoover High School for a program to learn more about the fire and how to prepare for future wildfires. The event, organized by Kensington Fire Safe and Alvarado Estates Fire Safe Council, featured a welcome by the new head of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Chief Robert Logan, and presentations by Dan Eddy, Assistant Fire Chief of Emergency Operations, and Assistant Fire Marshall Alex Kane. This was followed by a Q&A session with officials including Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, Lieutenant Christian Sharp of the San Diego Police Department, and Parks and Recreation Opens Spaces Deputy Director Erika Ferreira and Senior Park Ranger Erika Weikel.
“I will tell you, from being a 25-year firefighter…when I pulled up on the scene, I expected us to lose 15 to 20 homes,” said Chief Dan Eddy during his review of the fire. He commended the new evacuation system, describing it as a significant improvement over previous processes, and praised both firefighters and police for their swift and effective evacuation efforts, noting they “did a phenomenal job of getting people at risk out.”
The program, planned just three weeks after the fire to address residents’ pressing questions and concerns, was co-sponsored by the San Diego Fire Foundation, Kensington-Talmadge Community Association, College Area Community Council, and the Fire Safe Councils of San Diego County.
The presentation was recorded on video and you can watch it in four sections:
We are extremely grateful to Kensington resident Charles Stebbins for recording the presentation for us.
You can view all the photos from the event on DropBox. Thanks to Kensington resident Gary Payne, husband of our own board member Zoraida Payne, for these great shots.
For more details, see the local news coverage from KPBS:
Fire Officials Answer Questions About Brush Management, Traffic Control After College Area Fire.
By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe (KFS)
Kensington’s Fire Safe Council will share researched answers to your inquiries here. Send fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org. Pictures appreciated!
Q: Is AB 3074’s new radical Zone Zero requirement in effect?
A: Assembly Bill 3074, passed in 2020, may be a BIG change for homeowners.
Passed in 2020, this legislation requires a five foot “zone zero” around homes in areas with high fire risk. That zone is not to contain ANY flammable materials. This means no artificial turf, trellis, pergolas, shade covering, wood planters, attached combustible fences or gates, mulch, etc.…basically anything that can catch fire. But, don’t panic; the rules aren’t out – yet.
The good news is, this requirement can certainly help keep our homes safer from spreading flames and flying embers, which have been seen in some recent canyon fires. We’ve been told that airborne, blazing Mexican fan palm fronds can travel the length of a football field!
The bad news is most of us like seeing shrubbery, flower boxes or other decorative plants right outside our windows. Seems like very few area residences are currently free from flammables that close to their house. But maybe we need to be open-minded. There actually are some attractive yards with almost a five-foot zero non-flammable area, as pictured.
Small patios like these next to the house might meet future “zone zero” requirements, although in the event of a fire, you’d have to be home and have time to move any flammable items.
The question is, if it only applies to structures located in a “High” and “Very High” Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ), does that include my residence? Chances are, yes, because much of San Diego and particularly Kensington is in high or “VHFHSZs”. You can check your location at: https://www.sandiego.gov/fire/services/brush/severityzones
When will this apply to me?
Before enforcement of the new zero zone can occur, the State Fire Marshal must approve the implementation. That’s projected to happen for new construction in 2025, and for existing structures one year later.
Zone Zero was one of several key topics covered at last month’s KFS presentation at Kensington Community Church, by Assistant Fire Marshall Daniel Hypes and Deputy Chief Marshal Anthony Tosca, from the SD Fire Department, as well as Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Erika Ferreira and Open Spaces Division Project Officer II, Laura Ball.
Marshall Hypes provided details about door-to-door defensible space inspection of canyon rim homes, management of vacant lots and, with Parks and Rec, brush management program of city properties.
Officer Ball covered Open Spaces Division efforts, including handling brush complaints, and more recently, the real estate defensible space inspections required to sell a home. They are now training more assessors so they can expand this service. They also have a “Subdivision Review Program” to identify at-risk areas with at least 30 dwelling units in VHFHSZs with only one way in and out. Our community relations officer, Joshua Cummings, drove through the Alder Loop area after we mentioned our limited access. You can learn a lot more by listening to the presentation at: https://shorturl.at/3VF7k
Is My Home Ready for Fires?
Finally, remember there’s free home hardening assessments available. You have to register far in advance, but our neighbors Bill and Nancy Bamberger just had their house inspected after signing up on the County Fire Safe website–http://www.firesafesdcounty.org/hap, and were very pleased with the result.
Bill said, “The inspector spent an hour at our house, giving us specific advice on how to make our house more fire resistant. She recommended replacing our wooden gate with a metal one and told us where we could find a gate that would work. She acknowledged that some of her recommendations were costly but told us about cheaper alternatives. All-in-all, we got very useful advice!”
Tying all this back to the new Zone Zero – don’t be surprised if your insurance company tells you to make some changes. A good example is the beautiful but highly flammable and invasive — and now gone – white melaleuca trees on Marlborough and Ridgeway. We’re hearing more cases where homeowners had to do some hardening to secure insurance.
We wish all those struggling to keep, find or afford their insurance luck – we’ve had our own challenges too!
Fall Dumpathon is Coming!!
Kensington Fire Safe is excited to announce our Fall Dumpathon, Thursday, 9/26 to Monday, 10/7. During this time, dumpsters will be located throughout the Kensington neighborhood, allowing residents to dispose of extra greenery trimmed from their properties. This initiative helps make our community safer from wildfires!
This project is made possible by the San Diego Fire Foundation, support from Council President Elo-Rivera’s office, EDCO Disposal Company, and our dedicated neighborhood volunteers.
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A fire broke out in the canyon on Alder Drive near Hart Drive on Sunday, September 8, 2024, around noon. Thankfully, no one was injured, and no structures were damaged.
With temperatures soaring to 103 degrees in Kensington that day, conditions were ripe for a fire. The response was swift, with four fire trucks and five police cars arriving at the scene. A fire helicopter circled overhead, though it did not make a water drop.
Firefighters quickly tapped into the hydrant at the corner of Argos and Hart Drive, pumping water into the canyon and extinguishing the blaze within hours. A woodpile, along with a patch of grass and shrubs down the canyon slope, were charred, but that seems to be the extent of the damage.
A few neighbors were evacuated as a precaution but were allowed to stay nearby to observe the situation.
Judy Harrington, co-chair of Kensington Fire Safe, spoke with one of the firefighters the following day. They suspect the fire was caused by an overheated electrical wire due to high demand with everyone having their air conditioning on. Same for another fire that started shortly thereafter near N Kensington. There were no indications of homeless encampments in the Alder canyon area.
A representative from Sean Elo-Rivera’s office reached out to Kensington Fire Safe the next day, offering assistance if needed.
We hope this close call inspires Kensington residents to clear flammable brush from their yards and canyon areas during the upcoming Dumpathon. With fires on the rise, reducing potential fuel is essential to keeping our neighborhood safe.
By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe (KFS)
Kensington’s fire safe council will share researched answers to inquiries from community members here – if you send your fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org. Pictures appreciated!
Q. Is there a measurement showing how San Diego’s fire department stacks up to other fire departments?
A: This time the answer came before the question. Recently Kensington Fire Safe Council member, John Pringle, chatted with me while walking his dog. John happened to mention that our San Diego Fire Department has an “ISO” rating.
Here’s what we learned: the “Insurance Services Office,” is a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, which provides statistical data for insurance companies. They assign an ISO “Public Protection Class (PPC)” from 1 to 10, based on an evaluation of a community’s ability to protect the public from fires.” (1) (2)
That evaluation involves an assigned value to the following categories and weights:(3)
- 50%: issues like staffing levels, training, firehouse proximity.
- 40%: availability of water and fire hydrants.
- 10%: emergency communication systems.
Extra points may be earned based on community outreach, like fire prevention and safety courses. On the other hand, having areas that exceed five driving miles from the nearest fire station also affects scoring.
How do we rate? Drum roll please… As of the last rating assessment in 2017, San Diego’s was a “2″ — with “1″ being the best. This is very impressive considering only 45 out of 854 California fire departments nationwide achieved a “1” – per the chart and article below. Apparently ISO evaluations are typically done every 10 years, so we’re probably not yet due for another one. (4) (5)
Of course, the next obvious question is – does that rating help when it comes to our homeowner insurance costs and availability?
Does the rate matter?
Based on discussions with John and KFS insurance advisor, Scott Caraveo, the ISO rating may or may not be used by insurance companies in their complex process for determining community rates.
“Insurers don’t really provide discounts for lower PPC scores…safer areas just cost less.” Scott clarified. “Most California carriers work off a combination of both FireLine, parcel-based modeling and PPC, which is community-based risk modeling. Overall, community-based modeling is safer for companies because they can apply a broader rate to a general area, as opposed to setting different rates for each individual household in that same area.
“Consumers might appreciate parcel modeling quite a bit, but that would also be a LOT more tedious for companies (and agents/brokers!), and consumers would likely see a lot more variance on their insurance rates from house-to-house as a result.”
The FireLine data Scott mentioned is also provided by the risk assessment company, Verisk, in collaboration with the National Fire Protection Association. Its FireLine analysis includes property-specific mitigation efforts like defensible space and other home hardening measures, as well as fuel, slope, wind patterns and other factors.
For a past column, KFS asked Verisk about the extent to which density is considered, and a spokesperson confirmed that it is a factor although how much it influences their fire risk scoring is unclear. We are talking to Verisk about a possible presentation to our community — tell us if that’s something you might be interested it. (info@kensingtonfiresafe.org).
Meanwhile, there’s comfort in knowing our fire department is among the few in the top two ISO performance classifications. One website I visited for another California area with a high ISO recommended homeowners remind their insurance company of that good rating.
Seems like it couldn’t hurt — unlike the rate increases or cancellations unfortunately neighbors are seeing these days.
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(4) https://www.newportbeachca.gov/government/departments/fire/iso-class-i-rating
On October 9, 2023, NBC’s local news aired this story about how Kensington is preparing for a possible wildfire. The story features our own Kensington Fire Safe co-chair Judy Harrington. Watch the story here.
By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe (KFS)
Kensington’s fire safe council will share researched answers to inquiries from community members here – if you send your fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org. Pictures appreciated!
Here’s a follow-up to previous Firey Questions:
Q #1. When is the city going to trim our canyons?
Come pose that question to Deputy Chief Marshal Anthon Tosca, Senior Code Compliance Supervisor Marci Garcia plus other representatives from the Parks and Recreation Open Space Division, and also from the Fire Rescue Department, when they join us for a presentation at Kensington Community Church, Wednesday, June 12th at 6:30 PM, in Lander Hall.
Learn about vegetation thinning on certain city property adjacent to privately-owned lots, the “Ember Resistant Zone,” real estate defensible space inspections and other local wildfire prevention efforts. Please let us know if you’re coming so we can be sure to have enough chairs. RSVP at kensingtonfiresafe.org.
Q #2. Can I find out how fire safe my house really is?
A: Yes! Check out the FREE home assessment program being offered by the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County. The assessments include inspecting your house and property to determine vulnerabilities to potential flying embers in the event of a wildfire, as well as other fire dangers. Staff conducting the 30-to-45-minute, confidential assessment will make recommendations for improvements to harden your home against potential fires and provide other resources.
Two program phases are being rolled out by geographic zones. The first phase is the home assessments. For Kensington/Zone 6 the second round will take place August 5th to the 7th. They already completed about half a dozen in our area during the first March round.
There’s a second “service” phase when chipping and defensible space efforts are available to homeowners in high-risk areas that have physical, economic, or other barriers to doing the work themselves. These services will be available August 12th to 16th for our area. For more details, go to https://firesafesdcounty.org/hap/
This program is made possible by funding from CAL FIRE, through the California Fire Safe Council’s Defensible Space Assistance Grant Program.
Q#3: When is the next KFS Dumpathon?
A: Well, not this Spring as originally planned. We’ve been told that we should not hold this fuel-thinning support during the March through August gnatcatcher breeding season. We started holding late Spring events several years ago, based on resident’s feedback on the best time for trimming excess brush, after learning of a County and State agreement to allow fire fuel reduction efforts during this season. However, we were recently informed that the City’s Municipal Code restricting this activity overrides this agreement. So, our Spring Dumpathon was canceled.
Brush management crews at work
By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe (KFS)
Kensington’s fire safe council will share researched answers to inquiries from community members in this column. Send your fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org. Pictures appreciated!
Q: Over a recent delicious lunch at Clem’s Station on Monroe, we talked with Tony – manager, bartender, waiter, and part of the owing family – about problems residents are having getting, keeping, or affording homeowner insurance. He asked how the California FAIR Plan worked.
A: Good timing, Tony. We recently sat in on a conference call that gave us some insights into the “Fair Access to Insurance Requirements” program, aka the California FAIR Plan (CFP).
First of all, it’s not a government entity, as a lot of folks think. Although established by a California statue in 1968, CFP is run by a consortium of California property and casualty insurers. They’re required to participate if they want to do business here, and they share in the plan’s overhead, profits and most significantly – losses, in direct proportion to their market share in our state. (1)
So that means the bigger their sales, the greater their CFP plan liabilities, on top of whatever they’re paying out for their own insured. Is it any wonder you may find it hard to get a policy with the biggest insurers like State Farm, The Hartford and USAA?
FAIR plans, which exist in 26 states, weren’t intended for long term coverage, but rather as a temporary safety net until traditional insurance could be secured. In other words, it’s the insurance of last resort when no other insurer will take you on. But with our fire losses, CFP covers over 320,000 policies – about 3% of Californians. (By contrast, Washington State’s CFP Plan only covers about 130 policies.) (2)
CFP doesn’t take all comers. Brokers must answer questions about why they’re placing the risk with it, and confirm they’ve been declined by other carriers. As a result, CFP’s growing share of high-risk properties results in more expense for insurers and higher premiums for the insured..(3)
But…there are other problems. According to a June article in the San Francisco Standard, critics say the CFP is underfunded and mismanaged. Perhaps not surprising since, as the article says, “The very companies that refuse to insure properties in high-risk areas are still insuring them through the “back door” of CFP, and it doesn’t always pay out when it ought to.’
The article goes on to cite a Department of Insurance four-year study that found numerous issues, including that the CFP on occasion failed to provide standard fire insurance coverage, particularly regarding smoke damage claims. .(4)
Kensington Fire Safe’s insurance advisor, Scott Caraveo, says the process can be slow. “As homeowners buy in areas with higher fire risk, they’re ending up with five or more insurance quotes from several brokers, which may all be from the CFP. So now CFP has five different applications from five different brokers, all for the same address, creating a gigantic backlog. The three or four days it used to take for a CFP quote to be returned have become three weeks or more.”
Scott Caraveo, Insurance Advisor to Kensington Fire Safe
Higher Prices & Less Coverage
Scott pointed out there was a 15 percent increase this past December, but it’s not spread evenly. According to a November ABC report, “Some people in the most wildfire-prone, high-risk areas could see their rates as much as double.” And CFP covers less than traditional insurance plans.(5) Of course, some of our neighbors have already seen their homeowner insurance double if it’s renewed at all.
So, that’s the bad CFP news. The good news is we at least have a backup insurance option. If interested, your insurance broker can help with the plan’s application process, which requires information on your home’s replacement costs and date-stamped photos. You’re supposed to get a quote that’s good for 30 days.
Another option is an excess and surplus (E&S) carrier specializing in insuring high-risk properties. These policies are not backed by the California Insurance Guarantee Association, although they likely have other fail safes, such as reinsurance. Check with your broker or the Surplus Line Association of California website for more information.
Meanwhile, make your home more attractive to insurers by hardening it against fire embers. A good time to trim excess green fuel and dump it for free is during the KFS Spring Dumpathon, Thursday, April 25 to Monday, May 6th. Check for location announcements at kensingtonfiresafe.org and on Nextdoor. And please, no non-greens. We can be fined for that!
Watch for announcements about our April 25th to May, 6th Dumpathon!
By the Fire Safe Way… we’re hoping to arrange two presentations this Spring:
- Efforts to Keep Our Canyons Safe by representatives from San Diego Open Space Brush Management and the San Diego Fire Department.
- Assessing Fire Risk by representatives from Verisk on how they report on risk for insurance companies.
- Watch for date announcements on Nextdoor and KFS’s Facebook page. To receive this info directly, send your email address to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org
Notes:
- https://www.cfpnet.com/about-fair-plan/#:~:text=The%20California%20FAIR%20Plan%20was,from%20a%20traditional%20insurance%20carrier.
- https://content.naic.org/cipr-topics/fair-access-insurance-requirements-fair-plans#:~:text=The%20states%20that%20have%20their,similar%20purpose%20to%20FAIR%20plans.
- https://sfstandard.com/2023/10/19/california-insurance-crisis-CFP-plan-1000-applications-rate-increase/
- https://sfstandard.com/2023/06/05/as-insurers-retreat-california-homeowners-may-need-the-CFP-plan-so-what-is-it/
- https://www.cfpnet.com/