Insurance concerns grow with fire danger
ST. REGIS - Homeowners in one St. Regis housing development are worried after one of their neighbors was denied renewal of their insurance policy because the provider told them they were in a high wildfire risk area.
Bill and Judy Edwards of St. Regis found out in July that Homesite Insurance Company of the Midwest would no longer cover them.
A member of the homeowners association where the Edward’s residence is located said other members expressed concern about the change in policy. Jim Arney of the Trestle Creek Homeowners Association said he too was concerned that the affect of the decision wouldn’t stop with the Edwards.
“If they can do this to them, they can do it to anyone,” Arney said. “It was brought up at the last meeting and there was a lot of frustration. Nobody knows what to do about this. We are waiting to hear a response from the insurance company about their justification for doing this.”
Arney said in the meantime, the homeowner association is doing and has done for years what they can to reduce the potential for fire in the area. He said residents have been actively removing dead trees and had a system in place to identify problem areas and deal with them accordingly.
Arney said a company deciding to not renew a policy wasn’t the only problem. He said some homeowners may get to keep their current company but the price for coverage is going up dramatically.
“We had one homeowner in town whose rates doubled,” Arney said. “We need to share information about who is having insurance rates go up because if it’s happening to a few, it’s probably happening to others.”
According to Arney, who has a PhD and worked for the Forest Biometrics Research Institute in Portland. OR, the reason insurance companies may be changing their policies is bigger than just concern over fire risk. Arney said because the Forest Service, at the federal level, has mismanaged the nation’s forests, there is a potential for bigger fires in the future.
“Because of the lack of harvesting of the over-mature forest, the entire county was declared at an extreme risk of wildfire,” Arney said. “The insurance companies are likely in the process of reassessing their risk.”
Arney said while he sympathized with local Forest Service resources that are stretched thin financially, he said those in charge of the Forest Service in Washington D.C. were the ones who needed to reevaluate how the nation’s forests are managed.
“There is a lack of concern about these over-mature forests,” Arney said. “The district people are sensitive to the situation, but at the regional level there is no support for the local levels. At the local level, they recognize the situation and they are trying to do something about it. The problem is they don’t get any support from Washington D.C.”
Arney said while homeowners in the area wait to hear from insurance companies, they are continuing to prevent fire danger in their area and planning for the future.
“We want to know more about the insurance company’s basis for this because if there’s something we can do about it, we will,” Arney said. “If this turns out to be countywide, then it’s the Forest Service that will have to do something.”
Representatives from Homesite Insurance Company were contacted multiple times for more information but have not responded to a list of questions from the Mineral Independent.