134 FORTUNE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021campaigns in Sacramento for rates that better reflect cli-
mate-related risks. The immediate bid is for permission to
charge more. A large number of carriers have recently asked
Lara to grant them rate hikes just below the 7% threshold
that permits legal challenges. These asks have come to be
known by the just-under-the-wire increase they request:
“6.9s.” Other insurers are, like the FAIR Plan, risking bolder
action, requesting double-digit average rate hikes.
More lastingly, insurers are pushing to replace Cali-
fornia’s 20-year-backward-averaging methodology. Theyshot up 36%, to 190,196 people. More recent figures aren’t
yet available, but FAIR Plan documents suggest the burden
continues to rise. In 2014, the portion of the pool’s insured
properties that sit in “wildfire-exposed” areas was 25%. By
2020, it was 65%. In August the plan, citing a huge increase
in wildfire exposure, filed a request with the insurance de-
partment for an average 48.8% increase in its already-high
fire coverage premiums, arguing that the system’s “overall
rate inadequacy has grown.”
The insurance lobby has launched short- and long-term
A STATE AFLAME
The eight biggest wildfires in California history, and 10 of the top 14, have taken place since 2017.
Bigger, faster-moving fires have also drawn closer to the state’s largest population centers.CALIFORNIANEVADAOREGONSAN FRANCISCO
PORTOLA VALLEYRENOSACRAMENTOFRESNO LAS VEGASYUBA CITYBISHOPVISALIABAKERSFIELDSANTA CRUZSANTA ROSAMENDOCINOUKIAHCRESCENT CITYEUREKA
REDDINGMT. SHASTACHICOLOS ANGELESSANTA BARBARASAN DIEGOPALM SPRINGSAUGUST COMPLEX
AUGUST 2020
1,032,648 ACRESSCU LIGHTNING
COMPLEX
AUGUST 2020
396,624 ACRESTOTAL AREA BURNED, 2017-2021CALDOR
AUGUST 2021
220,877 ACRESTHOMAS
DECEMBER 2017
281,893 ACRESDIXIE
JULY 2021
963,276 ACRESNORTH COMPLEX
AUGUST 2020
318,935 ACRESCARR
JULY 2018
229,651 ACRESCREEK
SEPTEMBER 2020
379,895 ACRESMENDOCINO
COMPLEX
JULY 2018
459,123 ACRESLNU LIGHTNING
COMPLEX
AUGUST 2020
363,220 ACRESWILDFIRES IN
CALIFORNIA
SINCE 2017
100 MILESFIRES LABELED ON THE MAP ARE
THE TOP 1 0 LARGEST BY AREA BURNEDSOURCES: CAL FIRE; NATIONAL INTERAGENCY FIRE CENTER