The Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, and others have devastated California for the past week. Thousands of acres have been burned and more than 9,000 structures have been destroyed as the fires continue to blaze.
The California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara published a bulletin declaring a moratorium on cancellations and nonrenewals of residential property insurance policies affected by the wildfires. Residential property insurance policies include homeowners, condo unit owners, mobile homeowners, and residential renters policies.
California Governor Gavin Newson declared a state of emergency on January 7, 2025, in response to the fires. This gave the Insurance Commissioner the power to declare a moratorium on cancellations and nonrenewals of residential property insurance policies, per California statutes. The moratorium will be in place for one year after the Governor’s state of emergency order.
Insurers cannot cancel or nonrenew a residential property insurance policy due to wildfire risk for a property located within an affected ZIP code or adjacent to the fire perimeter. The ZIP codes, which may be subject to changes as the fires are still active, are as follows:
- Palisades Fire: 90049, 90265, 90272, 90290, 90402, 91301, 91302, 91320, 91356, 91361, 91364, 91436
- Eaton Fire: 91001, 91006, 91007, 91011, 91016, 91020, 91024, 91042, 91101, 91103, 91104, 91106, 91107, 91108, 91206, 91208, 91214, 91706, 91731, 91732, 91775, 91780, 93563
In addition, the Commissioner is asking all insurers who have pending non-renewals or cancellations for property located near the wildfire, to pause the non-renewal or cancellation for up to 6 months. This applies to non-renewals issued up to 90 days before January 7 that were meant to go into effect after the start of the fires.
The bulletin can be found here.