Letter to The Editor: Failing measures: Homeowners fire safety and insurance availability

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Letter to the Editor: The Malibu Times

Dear Editor,

Property owners need to lead the way in keeping their homes and communities safer from wildfires. They can’t depend on finite firefighting resources and limited insurance options to save them in this era of increased wildfires.

September is the start of brush fire season, and with it comes many potential dangers, including the devastating loss of homes and communities, and displacement of residents. As in the past, public officials stress the importance of practicing fire safety measures, but the effect of fire dangers is now having an impact on our pocketbooks. CalFire, the state firefighting entity, maintains that “Homeowners need to provide the defense so that fire officials can be the offense.” Yet nearly all homeowners continue to do very little, if anything at all, to help their home become more resistant from fire damage.

I began to realize this when I served as president of my homeowners association. Before my term began, our community insurance policy was canceled, and the board discovered that the best insurance policy we could get increased our premiums more than 10 times, to $624,000 from $60,000, which the community members had to pay. This was due in part to the loss our community suffered during the Woolsey Fire. Embers cast from the wildfires in the hills adjacent to our community landed in one of the household’s rain gutters that was full of debris and started a fire that burned down four households. Had only one household taken hardening measures around their home — just by clearing the rain gutters — the disastrous outcome could have been prevented.

Studies show that around 90 percent of all fires start within 5 feet of one’s home (referred to as “Zone Zero”) from ember cast. Annually, the fire department will conduct a brush clearance inspection around your home. It’s important to note, however, that there are currently no local or state requirements to protect your home within Zone Zero.

The California State Insurance Commissioner’s office is now encouraging homeowners to take action in Zone Zero and beyond in their Safer from Wildfires initiative. In addition, it is requiring that insurance companies give discounts to residential policyholders who participate in the program, but even this is not enough for homeowners to take action.

There are free, helpful resources available to homeowners. For example, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM), Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Foundation (LAEPF), and MySafeLA are grant-funded organizations that provide free home hardening assessments and reports to homeowners. According to these organizations, in 2024, only around 525 homeowners have taken advantage of this service.

CalFire is the administrator for the NFPA Firewise USA Program in California, which is a free, community-led program that educates and empowers homeowners to reduce the risk of fire damage at your household and in the community. This program can also provide insurance savings to homeowners within a recognized community. Yet, there are currently only around 20 NFPA Firewise USA Recognized communities in LA County.

Unless one has personally experienced the trials and tribulations of their homeowners insurance policy being canceled (or on the brink of being canceled), then they may not consider it a priority to take some home-hardening measures into effect. Yet others around the county and state continue to not engage in fire prevention measures at their household or in their community.

The likelihood of wildfires and their widespread effects are going to continue to rise.

The number of resources fighting these fires will likely remain the same.

The availability of insurance is going to continue to decline.

Things will continue to get worse without homeowners making changes to help prevent their homes from wildfires. Homeowners need to do more to keep their home and their community safe and, with this, hopefully improve the landscape of homeowners insurance availability and affordability.

Gabriel Albarian Jr.
Westlake Village