Price of California wildfires?

[EasyMoney00]

What's going to happen to the neighborhoods the fires devastated? I know there are a lot of wealthy people who's homes burnt down. They will be able to rebuild whether insurance covers it or not. What about the other normies who aren't extremely wealthy? I hope the insurance companies don't give them the run around. I've heard it's very difficult to get fire insurance in CA due to such a high risk...meaning even if you want the extra fire coverage, you can't get it.

Since that area is more affluent I'm guessing a LOT more will be done to rebuild CA than what was done to the poor Hawaiians in Maui.

[ua_guy]

No matter the wealth or poverty, people being displaced by natural disasters is devastating. Insurance is obligated to cover where there were policies in effect, and state and federal programs will help as well. It's true, private insurers have dropped a lot of homeowners in that area in recent years due to fire risk. California does have an insurer of last resort for homeowners/fire coverage, but not everyone can pay the premiums or meet the requirements.

Losses are estimated north of $50 Billion according to the last wave of headlines.

[disneysteve]

The losses are devastating. I’m sure FEMA is involved along with insurance companies. I heard that a ban has been instituted to prevent companies from cancelling policies or not renewing for a year. After that I’m sure many companies will pull out.

[Drake3287]

Living here in Northern California where we've had our share of destructive fires destroying thousands of homes, many, many people never received the insurance payout they thought they should have gotten from the insurance companies. These legal battles go on for years and years and unless you're wealthy, the insurance companies usually win. Our local media is still covering this issue even from fires in 2017. Terrible situation for everyone but even worse for the average Joe to deal with.

[ua_guy]

Living here in Northern California where we've had our share of destructive fires destroying thousands of homes, many, many people never received the insurance payout they thought they should have gotten from the insurance companies. These legal battles go on for years and years and unless you're wealthy, the insurance companies usually win. Our local media is still covering this issue even from fires in 2017. Terrible situation for everyone but even worse for the average Joe to deal with.

This is a good reminder for everyone with homeowner's insurance to go read and understand their policies and do a tune-up...

A lot of people think they get market value for their home when it burns down, and that may not be what the policy says. A lot of people (myself included) truly have no idea what it costs to rebuild a home after it's destroyed, or what exactly is covered as part of the rebuild process. One would think "everything" would be covered, but the details are in the policy.. Who can name what their deductible is in this kind of loss? Are your outbuildings covered? Do you know if you're covered for temporary housing while it can take more than a year++ to rebuild? How much are your possessions covered for?

[mumof2]

A lot of insurance companies cancelled the fire insurance over the last couple of months so pretty much no-one was covered...funny they did that and now they have major fire...wonder what trump and elon musk have planned for that space!! because many people who have lived there for 30 plus years won't be able to build again...some people are in their 80s/90s...what are they going to do

[Like2Plan]

I think it is going to take a long time to recover. The problem is you could come in with wheelbarrows full of $$, but there are only so many folks working in construction that can rebuild. Then there are complexities with getting insurance to pay. (Will it be enough to cover construction costs?).

I was just reading an essay on the wall street journal titled, "Lessons Learned From a Fiery Decade in L.A."
(I'm not sure this link will work because the article is probably behind a paywall) https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-...n-l-a-f188cb7d

Here are a couple of excerpts from the article:
"I know what’s next for the families who have lost their homes around Los Angeles in the last week; I’ve seen it up close. The Red Cross often leaves sifters at burned-out homes. Made of wood with a mesh screen, residents use them like old-fashioned gold diggers to sort through the rubble. The fires burn so hot that it’s rare for anything to make it through. Most people sift for a few hours and give up. It is exhausting work, going through the charred remains of your home hoping to find that one thing that hasn’t been destroyed."

"Most people are unable to fathom losing everything they’ve owned. A teenage girl who’d lost the only bedroom she’d ever had in the Woolsey Fire told me the trauma made her never want to have children. Six years later, neighbors on my street still have not rebuilt."


Quite honestly, I can't fathom losing just one house.Thousands?

Here is another article from AOL: "Inconvenient truths about the fires burning in Los Angeles from two fire experts"

https://www.aol.com/news/inconvenient-truths-fires-burning-los-110032654.html

From the article: "The most uncomfortable truth of the last four days has been how quickly firefighting efforts were overwhelmed and outmatched by the extreme fire conditions, Cohen said. L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone acknowledged there was simply not enough manpower for this emergency."

"The National Fire Prevention Assn., a national nonprofit that provides standards for fire suppression operations, calls for a minimum of three engines or 15 firefighters for a single-residence fire, a number that is impossible to attain when fighting a fire on the scale of the Palisades or Eaton fires."


Here is an article from PBS March 28, 2013 , " Why Did a 1542 Spanish Voyage Refer to San Pedro Bay as the 'Bay of the Smoke'?"

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-la/why-did-a-1542-spanish-voyage-refer-to-san-pedro-bay-as-the-bay-of-the-smoke

I'm sure there are going to be investigations as to the cause of the fire and mitigation strategies in the future. I think it is going to take a lot of changes to the infrastructure to have any meaningful impact and it is going to be expensive.

[bjl584]

They are still burning, so no one knows the totals yet.
A big issue down the road will be all the people who lost their homes and will be unable to get insurance or a mortgage to rebuild.
Where will these people go?
Wil they be forced to relocate to a different state or become renters?