Fire-insurance rates may be impacted by latest SoCal wildfires

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The wildfires that tore through multiple counties in Southern California over the past week are raising new concerns about fire insurance rates.

Some insurers have put a temporary halt to issuing new policies in the area, while homeowners fear the rates could go so high now they'd be force to move.

Rick Page lives in El Cariso Village in Lake Elsinore but can't go back home yet. His house survived the Airport Fire, while many of his neighbors' homes did not.

"Pretty much every house in a row up until mine is gone," says Page.

Now he's worried about what will happen next with his homeowners insurance.

"I know a lot of people up there more than likely don't have insurance anyhow," he says. "They just can't afford it."

Three major wildfires in Southern California have burned tens of thousands of acres in the past week. Because of these fires some insurance companies have instituted a moratorium on any new policies for the time being.

Rick Dinger from Crescenta Valley Insurance says some companies are informing him he "can't write until further notice, because obviously they don't want to be charting new policies when there's a fire burning next door."

The good news so far is the number of structures destroyed is low. Consumer advocates worry however that companies could still bring about higher rates in wildfire areas.

"The rate hikes, by the way, are going to be really extreme in the wildfire areas," says Jamie Court from Consumer Watchdog. "Because when the company gets a rate hike - like State Farm had a 20% rate hike recently - that's 20% average. In the wildfire area it could be 200%."

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the SoCal counties impacted by the fires. Now the insurance commissioner has the power to protect homeowners in the fire zones from insurance cancellations and non-renewals for one year.

"If they wanted to raise the rates up high enough where I couldn't afford it I would have to relocate," says Page.

Dinger is hopeful the insurance market will stabilize.

"We've had some fire issues here. But there's been a lot of houses that haven't had issues. So I think that it should settle in, and the market will take over here pretty soon," says Dinger.