Agent has solution

What does it take to lower the high rates for fire coverage on homeowner's insurance in Lake California? After reading a Valley Post article on the problem last month, one Lake California resident and insurance agent said he wants his community to confront the issue.

The Insurance Services Office, a risk assessment office, does not recognize the Lake California Volunteer Fire Company since the company lacks enough volunteers. As a result, insurance companies that subscribe to ISO's ratings for fire protection charge Lake California residents much more for home owners insurance.

Dan Mabry, a Farmers Insurance agent, said he thinks the community should find out what it needs to lower its rates and do it, rather than continue to pay high rates.

"I decided to stop working around the problem and attack the root. I repeatedly e-mailed and called ISO in Chicago and found a mitigation officer who offered to re-rate many of our local areas," said Mabry in an e-mail to the Valley Post on Oct. 27.

On Oct. 28, the office contacted the Tehama County Fire Chief to begin a reassessment, according to Greg Gutierrez, Battalion Chief of Tehama County Fire Department.

Gutierrez said the fire company needs four volunteers to respond to each fire over a certain length of time in order to get recognized by the office, but without the assessment office's requirements available to him, he did not know for how long.

Gathering the information to determine the number of volunteers per fire will take a couple weeks, Gutierrez added.

Raising enough volunteers for a fire company is difficult, although it is an essential part of rural fire protection, Gutierrez said.

On Friday, Mabry said three people offered to sign up to be a volunteer on an online Facebook.com he started, called Friends of Lake California.

"I don't know if they'll qualify or how many we need, but it's a start," Mabry said.