Last year, Francis Bischetti said he learned the annual cost of a homeowners policy he purchased from Farmers Insurance for his Pacific Palisades home would jump from $4,500 to $18,000 — an amount he couldn't afford.
He was also unable to enroll in the California Fair Plan, which offers fewer benefits, because he said he had to cut down 10 trees around his roof to reduce fire risk — something the 55-year-old personal assistant found too costly. Unable to participate. manage.
So he decided to do what's called "naked" - not buy any insurance on his home in the El Medio neighborhood. He figured if he watered his property year-round, that might be enough, considering it's located south of the Sunset Strip.
This is not the case. The home where he lived nearly his entire life burned to the ground on Tuesday, and more than 10,000 other homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed in the worst fire event in Los Angeles history. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed countywide.
"It's surreal," he said. "I grew up and lived here on and off for 50 years. I've never experienced anything like this in my entire time here."
Farmers Insurance declined to comment, saying it does not discuss individual policyholders.
Bischetti isn't the only homeowner living in Pacific Palisades, Altadena or other fire-prone hillside communities struggling to maintain coverage as costs rise sharply and many insurance companies decide Reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire claims by not renewing your policy. Even long-term customers. Many fire victims reported that insurance companies dropped their policies last year.
The fire, expected to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, deepens a crisis in the state's home insurance market, which was already struggling before the disaster struck.
State Farm General, the state's largest homeowners insurance company, announced in March that 30,000 homeowners and condo policies would not be renewed after they expired, including 1,626 policies from Pacific Palisades.
Chubb and its subsidiaries stopped writing new policies in 2021 for high-value homes with higher wildfire risks. Allstate has stopped writing new policies in 2022, and Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and its subsidiary Trans Pacific Insurance Co. withdrew from the state last year, despite an offer from Mercury Insurance Co. to accept their customers.
Last month, Liberty Mutual was sued by a homeowner who accused the insurance company of falsely claiming her roof had mold damage and therefore denying her coverage.
The complaint filed in San Diego County Superior Court alleges that "property casualty insurance companies ... have developed a disturbing trend of dropping California homeowners insurance policies like flies, driven by the desire to maximize profits." Liberty A spokesman for the mutual bank declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The number of policies underwritten by California's FAIR Plan, which reflects the lack of access to insurance, had about 452,000 policies as of September, up from 203,000 four years ago. FAIR Plan's website says claims exposure in the Pacific Palisades region alone is close to $6 billion.
"It's been a train wreck for a while," said Rick Dinger, president of Crescenta Valley Insurance, an independent brokerage in Glendale.
Peggy Holter spent decades as a television reporter, a peripatetic career that took her all over the world, but there was one place she called home and always returned to: her Moved into Pacific Palisades Apartments on January 1, 1978. Her apartment was destroyed in Tuesday's fire, along with the remaining 36 apartments in the Palisades Drive complex.
Holt, 83, who retired only last year, said she now faces uncertainty after State Farm did not renew her personal condo insurance, citing the condition of her roof.
But because the paperwork was missing, she's not sure if and when the policy lapsed, and she hasn't found a new carrier yet. The insurance typically covers personal belongings and the interior of the unit and provides benefits such as living expenses if the apartment is unavailable.
“I’m not a big keeper of things, but what I do have is a whole wall of photos and albums of all the places I’ve been, and family photos. I have one of my mother when she was 52, on a camel in a lion Photos in front of portraits," Holt recalled. "The only thing I care about is the future, because that's what you have to do."
Her biggest question is whether she can rebuild. The homeowners association has a master policy under the FAIR Plan that totals only $20 million. If the complex is not redeveloped, each apartment would sell for only about $550,000, far below recent apartment sales of more than $1 million. The land could be sold to developers.
Holt now lives in the Hollywood Hills with her son and has paid off the mortgage on her apartment.
After the fire subsided, she returned to the building and took a closer look at the damage. Her unit is gone, but the building's koi pond and fish have survived.
State Farm declined to comment on its non-renewal of contracts, saying in a recent statement: “Our top priority right now is to protect the safety of our customers, agents and employees affected by the fires and to continue to protect our customers during this tragedy. to help our customers.”
Matt Knight considers himself lucky: He and his family could have lost everything in the Eaton fire, just like Bischetti and Holter in the Palisades ) is like losing everything in a fire.
He said the trouble began last year, when he received a notice from Safeco Insurance Company that the home on Sonoma Drive in Altadena where he lives with his wife and three children was being compromised because of a tree above the garage. Insurance will not be renewed.
The 45-year-old Covina elementary school teacher said he dutifully trimmed the tree, only to be told that ivy growing on the garage was also a problem. After the demolition, he said he was told he had to repair the damaged stucco, which forced him to paint the house and replace the old roof in the process. But he said after spending $30,000 in repairs, he still couldn't get insurance.
A spokesman for Safeco, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, said the company does not comment on individual policyholders.
"So we were looking at company after company, and some of them were like, 'No, we don't offer any services in California.'" Some were like, "We're not making any new policies." Some were like, 'No, we're not offering any services in California.' Not doing 91001 because it was in a fire zone, we were like, 'This is crazy. '"
Just one day before his policy was set to expire last summer, Knight said he finally managed to get similar coverage through Aegis Insurance Company. But in the rush to get the policy in effect, the home he had lived in for 16 years was severely underinsured, with less than $300,000 in coverage, which likely wouldn't cover the cost of rebuilding. The property is valued at $1.13 million on Zillow.
The high winds that fueled the Eaton Fire triggered power outages Tuesday night, so Knight decided to drive his children to his parents' home on the other side of Altadena where they could do homework. From there, he saw the fire starting on a street near the mountains and what appeared to be a power line nearby.
"Within minutes it took over the hillside. It was unbelievable," he said.
His parents' home on Roosevelt Avenue escaped the disaster, and he drove through the night to check on his home. At 6 a.m., he joined a group of homeowners to put out a fire that was spreading on Sonoma Boulevard. "The whole community was scrambling for hoses and putting out fires," he said.
By late afternoon, he said, homeowners and firefighters ran out of water, forcing him and his neighbors to pack up and leave. He was sure he would lose his home, but the wind died down.
"I think it's the ultimate good luck," he said, although some other neighbors weren't so lucky.
Bischetti was not so lucky.
As the fire broke out on the hill Tuesday and all of the Palisade neighbors started packing up their cars, Bischetti stayed behind to continue hosing down his property, including his lawn, roof, rafters and walls.
"I think everything will be relatively safe," he said. “I’m always trying to protect the house with water.”
He gradually began packing the car with a change of clothes, a guitar, tax bills, property deeds and computer hard drives. He left his computer, amplifiers, music equipment and tools at home.
By 5 p.m., his entire street had turned into a ghost town. By then, Bischetti had watered his house several times. Dust and smoke filled the air, and a voice in his head told him it was time to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow," he recalled. "I don't want my car to be heavy."
But that's not the case.
Bischetti drove near Palisades High School and saw a house on the corner beginning to burn. He then tried to drive down El Medio Avenue, but the car was engulfed in black smoke and both sides of the car were on fire. He started to panic, realizing he wasn't going to make it through this.
After arriving at his sister's house in Mar Vista, he learned from neighbors that all the houses on his block had been razed.
Bischetti said his siblings lost family keepsakes and photos, and he lost thousands of dollars worth of tools and musical instruments. They also spent nearly $4,000 renovating the home so they could rent out some rooms.
Bischetti and his family have signed up for Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Relief Funds and are working to get help cleaning up the property, which he said will likely cost at least $10,000.
"I'm getting ready for this," he said of his one-man firefighting job. "That was the last hurray."