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26 insurance companies responded to Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's request and will continue to pay living expenses for wildfire survivors while they rebuild their homes. These companies agreed to extend benefits for another year if their customers reported a total loss of their home due to the 2017 Sonoma Complex Fires. According to the state insurance commissioner's office, about 20 percent of homes destroyed in the fires have been rebuilt. There are still 13 insurance companies, including Allstate and Nationwide, that did not agree to continue covering living expenses. The companies that did not agree to extend the deadline represent approximately 42 percent of the total loss reported. Many of the survivors covered by theses companies have already lost or will soon lose their additional living expenses benefits.
At a rally last month, survivors pleaded with insurance companies to continue to cover their living expenses another year. That story was featured in our radio series, One Year, One Hundred Miles Apart: two communities on the road to recovery.
(Image Left: A list of insurancers that declined to extend benefits or did not respond. Credit: California Department of Insurance. Image Right: A Santa Rosa home under construction. Credit: The U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers)
