Off-Topic: Southern California Fires

[exCyDing]

If those arsonists happened to get shot I wouldn't feel bad.

I guess they caught some looters just after the Sunset and Studio City fires last night. The radio was speculating the fires may have been set, but it was very much speculation. Details were, and are, still sketchy.

Don’t usually get my news from the radio, but it was NPR (usually not nutters) and I was driving around getting supplies for our impromptu mini vacation.

 

[simply1]

Who are you again?
Steve Guttenberg

Actor Steve Guttenberg jumps into action as brush fire burns Pacific Palisades

A wind-whipped brush fire is burning in Pacific Palisades, and large plumes of smoke can be seen for miles, but one well-known actor is jumping in to help. Evacuation orders are in place for those …

ktla.com

 

[Die4Cy]

Who are you again?
Steve Guttenberg

Actor Steve Guttenberg jumps into action as brush fire burns Pacific Palisades

A wind-whipped brush fire is burning in Pacific Palisades, and large plumes of smoke can be seen for miles, but one well-known actor is jumping in to help. Evacuation orders are in place for those …

ktla.com

He's the guy that printed the bible the first time

 

[iowastatefan1929]

Seems some jackasses set a dumpster on fire. It's a distraction story and not getting news coverage because it's really not relevant to the disaster as a whole.

Yeah a social media post of a dumpster set on fire.

 

[MNCYWX]

Even better perspective... everything inside the I80/35/235 loop would be gone if the size of those top two fires were in Des Moines.

 

[DollfaceKillah]

He's the guy that printed the bible the first time

Who are you again?
Steve Guttenberg

Actor Steve Guttenberg jumps into action as brush fire burns Pacific Palisades

A wind-whipped brush fire is burning in Pacific Palisades, and large plumes of smoke can be seen for miles, but one well-known actor is jumping in to help. Evacuation orders are in place for those …

ktla.com

Guy from Married with Children?

 

[Cyowa 14]

Scary what is happening with insurance. Everyone going to have to be self insured at some point.

Definitely nothing compared to what's going on in LA but you don't have to look far to see the same thing going on in Iowa. I've had multiple farmer friends who said their insurance provider just up and left the State. They said its basically down to Farm Bureau as the only insurance company who will insure farms and everything is 30% higher minimum compared to last year.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Understood. And that form doesn’t show the overhead needed to run the business. But if losses are normally around 60% of the premiums coming in, it isn’t like a 20-40% increase in losses will cause the rates to triple.

I guess my point is that hearing a $10-20B cost sounds like a giant sum of money. But it needs to be kept in context of the size of the industry.

No idea what the dollar total is for all of the homeowner's insurance is for California nor how much of that is expected to be profit.

The internet (Brave AI) seems to think that the average homeowner's premium in California is $1148 and that there are 7,628,017 single family homes. That would put total premiums paid at $8,756,963,516/year.

 

[12191987]

No idea what the dollar total is for all of the homeowner's insurance is for California nor how much of that is expected to be profit.

The internet (Brave AI) seems to think that the average homeowner's premium in California is $1148 and that there are 7,628,017 single family homes. That would put total premiums paid at $8,756,963,516/year.

I ******* wish.

 

[keepngoal]

No idea what the dollar total is for all of the homeowner's insurance is for California nor how much of that is expected to be profit.

The internet (Brave AI) seems to think that the average homeowner's premium in California is $1148 and that there are 7,628,017 single family homes. That would put total premiums paid at $8,756,963,516/year.

a reasonable test on this is not believing HOI is less than $200 per month.

 

[keepngoal]

Rando zillow grab in San Jose, has monthly HOI at $450.00 per month.

1171 Ironstone Ct, San Jose, CA 95132 | Zillow

1171 Ironstone Ct, San Jose CA, is a Single Family home that contains 1712 sq ft and was built in 1974.It contains 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.This home last sold for $1,985,000 in February 2025. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $1,962,400, which has decreased by $32,984 in the last 30...

www.zillow.com

 

[Cyclonepride]

a reasonable test on this is not believing HOI is less than $200 per month.

It does sound very low, just repeating what Brave AI came up with. Ah, I think I know what happened, that figure is assuming a certain price level per home, and homes in California are obviously much higher than that on average.

 

[12191987]

Rando zillow grab in San Jose, has monthly HOI at $450.00 per month.

1171 Ironstone Ct, San Jose, CA 95132 | Zillow

1171 Ironstone Ct, San Jose CA, is a Single Family home that contains 1712 sq ft and was built in 1974.It contains 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.This home last sold for $1,985,000 in February 2025. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $1,962,400, which has decreased by $32,984 in the last 30...

www.zillow.com

This probably does not include earthquake insurance (which is separate).

 

[cycloner29]

So State Farm and All State are pulling out of California because the state of California insurance regulators won't let them charge the higher premiums needed due to the high risks of fires in the state.

 

[BoxsterCy]

It does sound very low, just repeating what Brave AI came up with. Ah, I think I know what happened, that figure is assuming a certain price level per home, and homes in California are obviously much higher than that on average.

Chronicle reported premiums in line with national average of $1400/annual but noted it was rising rapidly and, of course, varies widely depending on the hood and the home values. This was the fall values and it's not intended to represent the trend of cancellations which will flip things upside down.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2024/california-home-insurance-costs-map/

 

[Cyclonepride]

Chronicle reported premiums in line with national average of $1400/annual but noted it was rising rapidly and is, of course, varies widely depending on the hood and the home values. This was the fall values and it's not intended to represent the trend of cancellations which will flip things upside down.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2024/california-home-insurance-costs-map/

It would be nice to know the actual total of all premiums in the state paid for 2024 to determine if a $10-20 billion hit would be catastrophic to the insurers or not, though in this case, the hit would be pretty immense for a relatively small geographic area and whoever had written a bunch of coverage there.

 

[simply1]

So State Farm and All State are pulling out of California because the state of California insurance regulators won't let them charge the higher premiums needed due to the high risks of fires in the state.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/12/31/california-home-insurance-wildfire-policies/

A regulation announced this week by the California Department of Insurance requires insurers to increase the writing of comprehensive policies in disaster-prone areas by 5 percent every two years up to a certain threshold. Currently, there is no requirement that insurers operate in high-risk areas at all, and some of the largest home insurers have cut their natural disaster coverage or hiked rates as climate risk grows.

But in an effort to keep those firms from leaving California altogether, regulators included a concession that the industry has sought for years: the ability to include reinsurance costs in the rates that homeowners pay.

 

[12191987]

It would be nice to know the actual total of all premiums in the state paid for 2024 to determine if a $10-20 billion hit would be catastrophic to the insurers or not, though in this case, the hit would be pretty immense for a relatively small geographic area and whoever had written a bunch of coverage there.

Disclaimer: I don’t work in the insurance industry.

Apparently insurance companies use “reinsurance” to insure themselves against losses in major events.

I only know this because California previously didn’t allow insurers to bake this into the cost of their premiums, but the recent change to allow it was meant to entice companies to come back to the state.

Anyway, presumably reinsurance is a major factor in how impactful this will be to their profits.

 

[isufbcurt]

Disclaimer: I don’t work in the insurance industry.

Apparently insurance companies use “reinsurance” to insure themselves against losses in major events.

I only know this because California previously didn’t allow insurers to bake this into the cost of their premiums, but the recent change to allow it was meant to entice companies to come back to the state.

Anyway, presumably reinsurance is a major factor in how impactful this will be to their profits.

Reinsurance also helps with Insurance Company's capital requirements.

I'm currently assisting with a reinsurance analysis for a life insurance company.

 

[MeowingCows]

Has anyone heard from @HFCS. Have not seen him post in a while and I know he lives in the area. Hope everything is okay with him

Got put in forum jail -- can't see the "Start conversation" button when viewing his profile.