Carriers sent non-renewal notices to 42,088 homeowners in the foothill counties in 2019, compared to 23,925 the year before, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Bryant Henley announced Monday. Almost every one of these homeowners had to buy replacement coverage from the state’s “insurer of last resort,” the FAIR Plan, often at prices double or triple what they were paying before.

The statistics, released at a Department of Insurance hearing, suggest the insurance crisis in California’s wildfire zones is continuing to rage.

Insurers began dropping thousands of mostly rural Californians after swallowing losses of $25 billion during the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons, capped by the near-total destruction of Paradise in the Camp Fire. Insurers did get compensated for about $11 billion in losses by PG&E Corp., which has been held responsible for most of the worst wildfires.

Nonetheless, industry officials say climate change and other factors are making increasingly large swaths of California almost uninsurable.

With the state experiencing its worst wildfire season ever, with more than 4 million acres burned, the shortage of affordable insurance coverage for homeowners is likely to intensify.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who convened the hearing on Zoom to explore ways of increasing coverage options, acknowledged that affordable insurance is tied to the underlying risk. “We will reduce this spread of wildfire risk,” Lara said.

The wave of insurance cancellations blanketed much of the Sierra Nevada. In the northern Sierra, non-renewals more than doubled last year, to 25,508. In the central and southern Sierra, 16,580 homeowners lost their coverage last year, up from 11,779 the year before.

Homeowners who get dropped by mainstream companies usually have to buy coverage from the California FAIR Plan, the state’s “insurer of last resort,” at rates three or four times higher than they had been paying. The number of Californians on the FAIR Plan jumped from 140,000 in 2018 to 190,000 last year. By August of this year, the FAIR Plan rolls had surpassed 200,000.

“I’m fortunate, I guess, to even have some insurance,” Mark Ratermann, who lives in the foothills northeast of Sacramento, said during the Zoom hearing. He said he pays $6,000 a year for coverage now, up from $1,800 a few years ago.

HOME ‘HARDENING’ STANDARDS TO REDUCE RISK

Lara introduced a bill earlier this year, AB 2367, that would have forced insurers to write coverage in fire-prone areas if homeowners and communities took steps to “harden” homes against wildfire risks.

The legislation died after insurers fought back, saying they shouldn’t be required to sell policies until standards for home hardening had been established. As a result, Lara agreed to work with the industry on standards, and Monday’s hearing was the first step in that process.

Home hardening has emerged as an increasingly viable tool for reducing wildfire risk. After the 2018 Camp Fire destroyed more than 12,000 homes in Paradise, a McClatchy investigation revealed that homes were more likely to survive if they’d been built according to a strict building code requiring fire-resilient roofing and siding and other protective features.

“Home hardening works,” Henley said, as a chart outlining some of McClatchy’s findings flashed on the Zoom screen.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget for this year originally contained $100 million to help communities retrofit homes for wildfire safety. But the funding was dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown left the state with a $50 billion deficit.

Insurance companies say they’ll work with Lara on home-hardening standards — but also argue that they must be allowed greater flexibility to charge rates that match with the risks involved in selling coverage in fire-prone communities.

“We absolutely must retain financial strength to pay these claims,” State Farm vice president Nicole Forziati said at Monday’s hearing.

Flames shoot from a window as the Bear Fire burns through the Berry Creek area of Butte County, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. The blaze, part of the lightning-sparked North Complex, expanded at a critical rate of spread as winds buffeted the region. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) NOAH BERGER AP

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The catastrophic Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County that ignited on Nov. 8 and indiscriminately devoured thousands and thousands of homes and structures and claimed at least 85 lives was fully contained by firefighters Sunday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.

The welcome news came just days after firefighters in Southern California reported that the Woolsey Fire — which started the same day as the Camp Fire, killed three people and destroyed 1,500 structures as it swept through Los Angeles and Ventura Counties — was 100 percent contained.

The Camp Fire has destroyed 13,972 residences and 528 commercial buildings as it burned 153,336 acres, according to the latest Cal Fire incident report. At least 296 people remain unaccounted for, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.

At least three firefighters were injured battling the Camp Fire.

NASA Worldview/EPA via Shutterstock – Smoke from the Camp Fire spreading over Northern California towards the Pacific Ocean, Nov. 16, 2018.

The Woolsey Fire also injured three other firefighters and burned 96,949 acres as it swept through such celebrity enclaves as Malibu and Calabasas, according to Cal Fire.

Satellite image/DigitalGlobe via Reuters – A Sept. 10, 2018, image of the Kilcrease circle community in Paradise, Calif., compared to a Nov. 17, 2018 image this area was destroyed by the deadly Camp Fire.more +

In all, the pair of wildfires laid waste to a total area of nearly 400 square miles. Officials said the remains of at least 54 people have been positively identified so far.

Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/Polaris – A search and rescue team combs through the debris for possible human remains at Paradise Gardens, Nov. 16, 2018 in Paradise, Calif.more +

Search and rescue crews were continuing to comb through the rubble of the Camp Fire Sunday for remains specifically in the town of Paradise, which was almost completely destroyed by the blaze.

A multi-agency task force, at the request of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, has captured detailed aerial imagery maps of damaged properties in most of the burn areas in the town of Paradise, as well as video surveys and 360-degree drone panoramas of all major roads in the area, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials hope the maps will provide valuable information to the search and recovery teams on the ground and to the residents of the community impacted by the Camp Fire.

Gene Blevins/Reuters – A home is engulfed in flames during the Woolsey Fire in Malibu, Calif., Nov. 9, 2018.

“This has been a tough situation for all of us,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in his video message Thursday. “We’re in this together. We are Butte County strong.”

Much-needed rain doused the scorched areas on Friday and Saturday, though the heavy rain did bring new dangers to the burn scar areas in the form of flash floods and mudslides.

The National Weather Service had issued a flash flood watch for the burn areas in Northern California.

Here is more about the fires that have been devastating Northern and Southern California.

The Camp Fire in Northern California

The Camp Fire ignited Nov. 8 near Pulga, a tiny community in Butte County nestled in the Plumas National Forest. The blaze exploded as strong winds fanned the flames southwest, enveloping Paradise, a bucolic community of 27,000 people in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The fire has virtually decimated the entire town.

Melissa Schuster, a Paradise town council member, said her house was among those leveled by the Camp Fire.

“Our entire five-member council is homeless,” Schuster said in a Nov. 13 interview on ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast. “All of our houses have been destroyed.”

The death toll from the Camp Fire increased to 85 on Saturday after officials found still more bodies in the burned-out rubble of homes and melted cars, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, which has warned that the remains of some of the missing may never be recovered due to the severity of the fire. Thom Porter, chief of strategic planning for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the body count is expected to climb higher as search crews continue sifting through the destruction.

“It is by far the most deadly single fire in California,” Porter has said of the Camp Fire.

Many of the deaths occurred in Paradise.

“The entire community of Paradise is a toxic wasteland right now,” Schuster said on Nov. 13, holding back tears.

“In addition to that, and this is the hardest part for me to even talk about, the number of fatalities is [among] things that we don’t know at this moment and that’s something that has to be determined before people can move back in,” she said.

Two prison inmate firefighters were among a total of three firefighters who have been injured while battling the Camp Fire, officials told ABC News.

Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown toured the devastation caused by the Camp Fire along with Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

“This is one of the worst disasters I’ve ever seen in my career, hands down,” Long told reporters at the scene Nov. 14.

The Woolsey Fire in Southern California

The Woolsey Fire also ignited Nov. 8 near the city of Simi Valley in Ventura County and rapidly spread south to Los Angeles County. The wind-driven flames jumped the 101 Freeway before sweeping through the celebrity enclaves of Malibu and Calabasas.

The entire city of Malibu and a sprawling naval base near the seaside city of Oxnard were among the areas under mandatory evacuation orders, as officials warned the blaze could potentially spread all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Evacuation orders have since been lifted for some areas, including parts of Malibu, as firefighters successfully stretched containment levels.

The Woolsey Fire, which torched a total of 96,949 acres in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, was fully contained by Wednesday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In addition to the 1,500 structures that were destroyed, another 341 were damaged.

The blaze burned down a portion of Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills known as “Western Town,” where hundreds of movies and television shows, including HBO’s “Westworld,” have been filmed.

The Woolsey Fire has been blamed for the deaths of at least three people and three firefighters sustained injuries while battling the flames, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

A public health emergency

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has declared a public health emergency in California, where the wildfires forced the evacuation of at least two hospitals and eight other health facilities.

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images – Firefighters knock down flames in the Point Dume neighborhood of Malibu, Calif., on Nov. 10, 2018, after the Woolsey Fire tore through the neighborhood overnight.more +

“We are working closely with state health authorities and monitoring the needs of healthcare facilities to provide whatever they may need to save lives and protect health,” Azar said in a Nov. 14 statement. “This declaration will help ensure that Americans who are threatened by these dangerous wildfires and who rely on Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program have continuous access to the care they need.”

The smoke from the flames descended across the Golden State and choked the air in major cities.

Smoke advisories were issued for the affected region amid concerns that smoke from the fires could present a “significant health threat” for people with asthma and other lung conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Residents were advised to stay indoors as much as possible and to wear a protective mask when venturing outside.

Berkeley Earth, a California-based nonprofit that analyzes air quality in real-time, ranked San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento as the world’s three “most polluted cities” on Nov. 16.

David Mcnew/AFP/Getty Images – The Santa Monica Mountains are seen left blackened by the Woolsey Fire near Malibu, Calif., Nov. 14, 2018.

Meanwhile, there has been an outbreak of norovirus at a shelter in Butte County housing evacuees, according to Lisa Almaguer, public information officer for Butte County Public Health.

Almaguer said the presence of the contagious virus is “not uncommon” especially at this time of year and “with hundreds of people living in close quarters.”

Soel Loeb/AFP/Getty Images – President Donald Trump greets California Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, left, as he arrives at Beale Air Force Base in California, Nov. 17, 2018.more +

President Trump tours unprecedented devastation

President Donald Trump arrived in California on Nov. 17 to survey the scene of surreal devastation and meet with firefighters, alongside Gov. Brown and the state’s governor-elect, Gavin Newsom.

The president stopped first in the town of Paradise, where he called the damage “total devastation.”

“We’ve never seen anything like this in California, we’ve never seen anything like this yet. It’s like total devastation,” Trump told reporters. “I think people have to see this really to understand it.”

The president later visited Malibu to tour the destruction from the Woolsey Fire.

Trump pledged federal assistance to California following his visit, just days after he threatened to withhold funds from the state due to what he described as “gross mismanagement of forests.”

ABC News’ Karine Hafuta, Marilyn Heck, Julia Jacobo and Bonnie McLean contributed to this report.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/californias-camp-fire-now-completely-contained-officials/story?id=59397260

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Northern California could see heavy rain over the next few days, which could help crews battling the devastating Camp Fire. However, it could also bring mudslides and complicate recovery efforts. At a press conference Wednesday night, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said two more people died in the fire, bringing the total to 83.

Officials also said the amount of missing people on their list has decreased to more than 560. Officials need to make direct contact with a missing person before they can be removed from the list.

The Camp Fire decimated the town of Paradise, population 27,000, and surrounding communities. Officials expected people to be in shelters through the Christmas holiday, CBS News correspondent Meg Oliver reports.

The wildfire has destroyed more than 14,000 homes. “This is certainly one of the worst fires in California history, and it’s the most destruction I’ve ever seen in my career,” Cal Fire Operations Chief Josh Bischoff said.

The Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles County has been 100 percent contained Wednesday night, according to Cal Fire

Follow California wildfire updates below:

• California wildfires fast facts

  These are the current numbers as of Wednesday morning from Cal Fire and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

  Camp Fire

  • Location: Butte County
  • 153,336 acres burned
  • 85 percent contained
  • 83 fatalities confirmed
  • 560 unaccounted for
  • 18,886 structures destroyed (14,243 residences, 514 commercial and 4,129 other buildings)

  Woolsey Fire

  • Location: Los Angeles County, Ventura County
  • 96,949 acres burned
  • 100 percent contained
  • 3 fatalities confirmed
  • 1,643 structures destroyed, 364 damaged

Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers donating $1M wildfire victims

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers announced Wednesday he’s donating $1 million to California wildfire victims. Wearing a “Butte Strong” sweatshirt to support Butte County, where the Camp Fire destroyed more than 15,000 structures, Rodgers appeared in a Twitter video. He explained the wildfires hit close to home.

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Marcus Yam /Los Angeles Times/Getty

The death toll in a string of California wildfires continued to rise this week as authorities made progress in containing the deadliest blaze in the northern part of the state. Now, authorities are struggling to learn the whereabouts of nearly 1,000 people missing since the fires broke out.

On Sunday, the Camp Fire in northern California was 65 percent contained after spreading across 150,000 acres. Butte County officials announced that 77 people had died so far as a result of the fire. Meanwhile, the Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles was 91 percent contained — after burning through more than 96,000 acres — on Sunday and has led to three deaths. Ventura County’s Hill Fire was completely contained on Friday.

Although it looks like the end of the blazes may be drawing near, CalFire officials announced that the Camp Fire likely won’t be contained until Nov. 30. Meanwhile, identifying those who died in the Camp Fire will be difficult.

“We’re finding remains in various states,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said, according to the Sacramento Bee. “I suspect there are some that will have been completely consumed.”

JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty

RELATED STORY: Drone Footage Shows Devastation of California City Where Wildfire Killed Residents, Destroyed Homes

Honea said that collecting a single victim could take hours, as search and rescue teams work to make sure no body part is left behind for grieving relatives to find.

“There is certainly the unfortunate possibility that even after we’ve searched an area, once people get back in there, it’s possible that human remains could be found,” Honea said, according to the Bee. “I know that’s a very difficult thing to think about, but that’s the difficult situation we find ourselves in today.”

Honea said in a statement shared on social media that 67 of the 77 victims have been “tentatively” identified. He noted that 993 people remain unaccounted for. Smoke from the fires has decreased air quality in parts of the state, and although some much-needed rain is forecast in parts of the state this week, Honea has said the weather could make it harder to find human remains.

Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty

“It’s a disheartening situation,” Honea said, according to CBS News. “As much as I wish we could get through this before the rains come, I don’t know if that’s possible.”

Many gathered for a vigil at First Christian Church in Chico — the town where many Paradise residents have taken refuge since the blaze, according to CBS. They prayed, presented photos of lost friends and family and sought help from counselors and mental health experts. A sign at the vigil read: “We will rise from the ashes #paradisestrong #buttecountystrong.”

RELATED: Paradise Residents Speak Out After Deadly Wildfire Ravages California Town: ‘We Have Nothing’

Meanwhile, families of missing Paradise residents are awaiting word about the fate of their loved ones.

Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post/Getty

“We’re being patient just because we know we’re not the only family that’s going through this right now,” Sadia Quint told CNN. “So everyone’s kind of in it together and everyone’s being really supportive.”

Quint doesn’t know what happened to her uncle, David William Marbury, who lived in Paradise.

“We already know that his house has been burned down and his car was in his garage,” Quint told CNN. “So now we’re just waiting for the sheriff’s department to go out there and let us know if his body’s in there or not.”

To help victims of the California wildfires, visit the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, the California Fire Foundation and the American Red Cross, for more information.

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Source: https://people.com/human-interest/california-wildfires-80-dead-1k-missing/

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Despite the grim update, cooler weather has helped fire crews gain ground Thursday against the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century as the search went on for more bodies.

Suzanne Kaksonen, who fled the flames with her two birds, said she’s been told she may have to wait six months before she can go back to Paradise, which was all but destroyed a week ago. “I don’t even care if there’s no home,” she said at a shelter set up next to a Walmart parking lot in Chico. “I just want to go back to my dirt, you know, and put a trailer up and clean it up and get going.”

At the other end of the state, crews made progress against the Woolsey Fire that destroyed over 500 structures in Malibu and other communities. At least three deaths were reported in Southern California.

• California wildfires fast facts

  Firefighters are battling two major wildfires in California. Here’s a breakdown by the numbers as of Thursday evening, according to Cal Fire and local officials.

  Camp Fire

  • Location: Butte County
  • 141,000 acres burned
  • 40 percent contained
  • 63 fatalities confirmed
  • 11,862 structures destroyed (including homes)

  Woolsey Fire

  • Location: Los Angeles County, Ventura County
  • 98,362 acres burned
  • 62 percent contained
  • 3 fatalities confirmed
  • 435 structures destroyed, 57,000 in danger

• California wildfire map
  

  • The “Camp Fire” in Northern California is raging north of the state capital of Sacramento, and the “Woolsey Fire” is burning outside Los Angeles.

  • Camp Fire now blamed for 63 deaths in Northern California

    9:05 p.m.: Officials held a press conference Thursday night with the latest details about the Camp Fire in Northern California. The Butte County sheriff said seven additional human remains were found earlier, bringing the total dead from the Camp Fire to 63 (statewide 66).

  

  CBS News@CBSNews

  “We have located seven additional human remains,” bringing the death toll of the CA Camp Fire to 63, says official

  They said a total of 11,862 structures have been destroyed by the Camp Fire, including homes.

  A FEMA official said anyone affected by the Camp Fire needs to register so they can receive assistant.

  An official with the California Highway Patrol said looters will be prosecuted.

  The CHP said road/highway conditions can be found online at the Butte County website. They said some 165 cars have been cleared from roadways.

  The Butte County sheriff’s office announced a total of 631 have been listed as “unaccounted” — a jump in the past 24 hours. The list can be found here.

  

  CBS News@CBSNews

  Official says there are now 631 people unaccounted for in the area affected by the CA Camp Fire, an increase of 501 people from last night.

  • Peter Martinez contributed to this report.
    

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    Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/fires-in-california-camp-woolsey-paradise-wildfire-evacuations-death-toll-map-2018-11-15-latest/

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(CNN)A series of fast-moving wildfires is racing Friday up and down California, destroying thousands of structures and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate through flame-lined streets.

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