Homeowners' Insurance Information Regarding Discounts
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Please read the update following this first section!
Mountain Rim Fire Safe Council and Inland Empire Fire Safe Alliance are excited to share that the State of California Board of Forestry announced the 2024 Community Risk Reduction Fire List.
In 2022 Insurance Commissioner Lara, through his Safer from Wildfire program, established a requirement that:
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"No insurer shall use a rating plan that does not take into account and reflect the
following mandatory factors:
(A) Community-level mitigation designations: The rating plan shall
reflect, and the rate offered to the applicant or insured shall be based in part on, the reduced wildfire risk associated each and every community-level mitigation designation listed below in this subdivision (d)(1)(A) that is applicable to the community in which the Building Being Evaluated is located.
Community-level mitigation designations include:
1. Fire Risk Reduction Community listed by the Board of Forestry pursuant to Public Resources Code section 4290.1; and
2. Firewise USA Site in Good Standing"
The Fire Risk Reduction Community List (FRRCL), as mandated by Public Resource Code 4290.1, is "a list of local agencies located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone that meet best practices for local fire planning." The List is developed and maintained by the California’s Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, with the first iteration beginning July 1, 2022, and updated every two years thereafter.
In the Inland Empire, Arrowbear Lake Fire Department, Big Bear Fire Authority, Chino Valley Fire Department, City of Murrieta, City of Rancho Cucamonga, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District and San Bernardino County Fire Protection District all submitted applications for this designation of Fire Risk Reduction Community (FRRC) to help the communities they serve. And they were among the only 50 entities in the state awarded the recognition!
The official list is below, along with the excerpt from the Department of Insurance regulation that requires insurers to recognize the list.
We recommend contacting your agent as soon as possible to share this important status. Some of your communities may be covered under more than one entity as San Bernardino County Fire Protection District covers the entire county. However, you will not receive multiple discounts.
Note: this does not diminish the need for FIREWISE community designation. Firewise is still critical in helping a community work together to be fire safe and fire resilient. The FRRC list is great for getting a discount, but it won't keep your house from burning down if your neighbors don't do their part in creating defensible space.
UPDATE 08-02-2024
It has come to our attention that some insurance companies are not recognizing the FRRCL for discount or rating purposes. We reached out to Senator Bogh's office and her staff was able to get the following statement from the CA Department of Insurance to assist with these circumstances.
From the DOI:
“Last year all California admitted insurance companies were required to submit new rates with wildfire safety discounts based on the new Safer from Wildfires framework created with CAL FIRE and other state preparedness agencies. You can see Safer From Wildfires Framework on our website: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/200-wrr/Safer-from-Wildfires.cfm
If an admitted insurer is not taking mitigation efforts or the fact that the property is in a Firewise USA Site in Good Standing or a Fire Risk Reduction Community into account, and are not applying approved discounts, then the policyholder should submit a Request for Assistance (RFA) to the Department of Insurance so that we may look into their specific situation. An RFA may be completed and submitted through our website at: https://cdiapps.insurance.ca.gov/CP/login/
This regulation does not require insurers to write policies. If they are writing policies in the area then the appropriate discounts should be applied (in accordance with what the Department of Insurance has approved). I believe there are still some of these rate filings that remain under review and have not yet been approved.
If you would like to speak with someone at the Department of Insurance, you may call our Consumer Hotline at 1-800-927-4357”
I hope this helps for those who have encountered a brick wall at their insurance company. And please remember the agents are not responsible for the carrier's position but they CAN help get the word up the chain to those who make the decisions.
Please let me know if you or someone you know has had their FRRCL request accepted or declined. We are trying to track the different companies' responses.
If you have questions we might be able to answer please respond to this email or call 866-923-3473