Homeowners from Villa Park to Mission Viejo are speaking out at city meetings, voicing frustration and concern over updated fire hazard maps they say will send property values plummeting and insurance rates skyrocketing.
State law requires fire officials to periodically update fire hazard maps using the latest data, science and technology. The same law mandates city officials adopt the updated maps, and few cities have seen more rancor over matter than Mission Viejo, where officials on Monday will discuss the issue for the third time.
Flames come over the ridge towards Modjeska Canyon during the 2007 Santiago Fire. Updated fire hazard severity zone maps have some residents concerned that it will increase insurance rates and decrease property values.
REPORTING BY CHRIS BOUCLY, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER; FILE PHOTO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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More than 80 Mission Viejo residents packed a room at the Civic Center last week to hear from city and fire officials why they weren't notified sooner about the maps, and to question the credibility of the maps.
Resident Joel Sugg spoke at a public hearing on the maps in early February. Sugg lives at the north end of Mission Viejo in Painted Trails, a community newly added to very high fire hazard severity zone map.
"I think that there's going to be a potential negative impact on homeowners' policies present and future," said Sugg, who contacted his insurance company about the issue. "They said it wouldn't definitely raise the fees immediately, but they have the right to review it and potentially raise them."
Sugg also echoed others' concerns that insurance companies would pull out of the area.
"It's definitely going to limit the competition because right now, where my home is situated, it's on the sort of top side of the toll road," he said. "We have vegetation at the back slope area. There's a lot of homeowners policy writers that will not write because we are on the slope. My question is, how many additional homeowners insurers will not write because we are going to be in a very high fire hazard (zone)."
FIRE PREVENTION
Fire protection is the responsibility of either state, local or federal authorities. Mapping very high fire hazard zones allows authorities and residents to understand the risks associated with those zones, identify measures to deal with those risks, and require the measures be taken.
State responsibility areas, which include unincorporated Orange County, were mapped in 1985 and updated in 2007.
Local responsibility areas, which include incorporated cities, were mapped in the mid-90s following the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which destroyed 2,500 homes and caused more than $2 billion in damage. Those maps have not been updated until now.
Since 2007, the state has been working with the Orange County Fire Authority, its contract cities and city fire departments to update the maps using new data about fire history and ember movement, and new science and technology.
The maps identify areas where strict state building codes implemented in 2008 should be applied for rebuilt or new structures, and state law requires cities to adopt the maps so those codes will apply. Room additions and remodels would not be affected.
EFFECTS ON HOMEOWNERS
Though city, county and state officials have been discussing the maps for several years, ensuring local knowledge is being considered, the public has been left out of the process, infuriating homeowners who wanted an opportunity to have their developments excluded because they fear what the designation will mean for insurance rates and property values.
OCFA Fire Marshal Laura Blaul took the blame for the lack of notification, saying the fire agency was more focused on getting the maps finalized so they could be used as a tool for educating residents about hazards and what they can do about them.
The maps have been in place in unincorporated areas such as Ladera Ranch and Coto de Caza since 2008, she said, and the department has not received feedback about insurance or property values issues.
OCFA researched the insurance issue, surveying five counties where the maps have been adopted, and speaking to representatives from the state Department of Insurance, the California FAIR Plan Association, which issues insurance to those unable to get it from typical insurers, and the Insurance Services Office, which provides data and underwriting services to insurance companies.
No evidence was found to indicate insurance premiums were affected or that insurance companies used the maps in the underwriting process.
However, RiskMeter Online, a Boston-based company that provides data reports to major insurance companies, does make California fire hazard severity zone maps available to underwriters and insurance agents.
Steve Inlow is an agent with Harbor West Insurance in Mission Viejo. Harbor West, in business for 25 years, represents about 20 insurance companies and issues policies for clients from Irvine to San Clemente. The bulk of homeowners policies are from Travelers, Mercury and First American Specialty insurance companies.
Inlow uses RiskMeter regularly. He said of the more than 20 data layers available to select when running a RiskMeter report, fire hazard severity zones was not among them. Inlow also said Harbor West has not received any nonrenewals for fire hazard in Ladera Ranch or Coto de Caza.
CONCERNS REMAIN
Residents also have questioned the accuracy of the fire hazard maps because demarcation lines don't always make sense, Blaul said. Lines are drawn through neighborhoods such that one home on a street is in the zone while a home next door is not.
In addition, residents have taken issue with the criteria used to create the zones, noting hazards are considered, but not mitigations such as nearby lakes and reservoirs or stricter building standards used on their homes.
Blaul will be at Monday's meeting in Mission Viejo to discuss the city's options. One possibility, she said, is to reject the map but designate areas the state says are very high fire hazard zones as special fire protection areas or something similar.
Stricter construction standards and a vegetation management plan would be required in those areas.
"These people are at risk whether they adopt the maps or not," she said. "They need to understand that, and they need to know there are things they can do to increase the survivability of their homes."
Contact the writer: 949-454-7377 or cboucly@ocregister.com
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/news/fire-343028-maps-insurance.html
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