When the State of Oregon released its wildfire hazard maps in 2022, it’s safe to say it did not go well. Many were shocked to see their homes put into the “red” zone, meaning their properties were considered to be in a higher-risk zone for wildfires. Many worried that their insurance companies would use the maps to raise their rates — or worse yet, drop them all together. And while the latter concern — that insurance companies would use the maps to decide who to cover (or not) — the purpose of the maps, recently re-released just this month, has since become clearer to more people. When they were released again, following months of public comment and thousands of Oregonians offering their input, the Oregon Department of Forestry was careful to point out that the biggest concern around insurance wasn’t true. As the Source Weekly reported in 2023, insurance companies have their own, very detailed methods of determining the risks at your home. In 2023, the Oregon legislature also passed a bill that bans insurance companies from using the maps to cancel or raise homeowner rates.
Oregon’s wildfire hazard maps are, in essence, meant to help us all learn more about how to protect our homes. As we have seen from the devastating fires this week in the Los Angeles area, much of the country still has a lot to learn about how to protect lives and property. With such a large population area under watch for fires, there’s been a flood of reporting on building safer homes and preparing properties for the potential of fire. And even if we are all fully motivated and educated around hardening our homes and creating defensible space, the realities of climate change mean that the devastation we’re still seeing come out of L.A. is going to happen again. The fact that we have an incoming administration that seems bent on burying its head in the sand around slowing the effects of climate change should concern everyone.
Now that Oregonians should be fully aware that the state’s maps won’t cause insurance companies to drop them or raise their rates, we can hopefully focus on those things that they were intended for — to educate us, and to help our neighbors get there, too. Right now, those who live in an area that is designated “red” (the high-risk area is orange on the new maps) and is also in a wildland-urban interface area are getting some of that education in the form of a packet of information about the wildfire hazard maps and what to do to protect their homes. The packet also contains information about how to appeal the designation of your property. This week, it’s been striking to see the photos of homes that survived the flames around L.A., right next to homes that burned to the ground. That’s what home hardening and defensible space can look like.
That’s great and all — but what to do when you’ve done all you can, and your neighbor hasn’t? When the last maps were released, that was a concern for many who commented. This time around, that packet of information is just the start of the group effort. Next up: plans to offer more money and support for defensible-space projects, and also new building codes that will likely make building in certain areas more costly. Homes on the west side of Bend already tend to be more expensive than those on the east side, largely due to their proximity to amenities and outdoor recreation, but with pending new home-hardening codes for those in the wildland-urban interface, that east-west divide is only about to get more acute. Perhaps it’s more pleasing in the short term to bury one’s head in the sand around all of this, but what’s worse — rising insurance rates and investing in home hardening, or losing your home all together?
This article appears in The Source Weekly January 16, 2025.
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We were told by the state office issuing fire maps that yes indeed insurers were allowed to use the maps to adjust and or not renew policies. We were told the instructions around map usage had been amended by law to facilitate this. Our insurance doubled with State Farm 2 years ago, we cancelled our 40 year relationship then. We got Progressive, this year our premium went from 1800 to 5800 in less than a year. We cancelled. We thought we’ll State Farm was less let’s go back to them .. we were told by our local Bend broker we were ” uninsurable”. Fortunately we got something fairly reasonable via USAA as my husband is a veteran.
Insurers are indeed using these maps and we aren’t even in the high risk colored category.
It’s really going to come to hardening and self-insurance.
As an aside all the new homes with their very small percentages of affordable housing are also in the WUI how will these insurance issues impact pricing and will they negate any semblance of affordability?
A looming public policy crisis is at our doorstep. This is not gas lighting. People are going to lose their home insurance or ability to afford premiums. Most people are not able to afford to rebuild without insurance leading to bankruptcy or becoming houseless or being forced to rent. All bad outcomes for vibrant community and an aging population faced with rising health care costs, living expenses, and fewer social safety nets. Not ready to present a solution here, but it needs to be a serious conversation.
Untrue. Although I remain in the green, I have friends in the orange who were told by their Ins companies (Homelite by Progressive is one) that their premiums will be increasing. Although the OR legislature passed the law that says Ins Co. cannot do that, we all know they are going to anyways and they have. There is always a legal way around somehow and they will find it to make more $ off their consumers.
They want all of us in the cities
Of course insurance companies are invested in this map. Insurance is a business based on risk. The consumer is always going to take the short end of the stick.
Aside from this map, as usual, the City of Bend is clueless about the fire danger.
There is NO WAY we should have expanded the UGB out West. Developers and the City of Bend care very little about the tinder box that is outer West Bend. Two roads to get out? Leave your car, get on your bike and pedal East. That’s going to be your only option when a firestorm hits West Bend……….and the more development we have out there……..the more sources we have for ignition.