Rural insurance rates climbing through roof

With continual reassessment of fire risk by insurance companies, homeowners insurance has become increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain for many living far outside or on the outskirts of fire districts in the last few years.

Many insurance companies hire the risk assessing company, Insurance Services Office, to rate the fire suppression abilities of fire stations. The office then assigns a number to geographic areas qualifying the "fire suppression delivery" to structures, according to a Shasta County Fire Department report.

In the rating system, a rating of 10 carries the highest risk and cost to the homeowner. Insurance companies who subscribe to the ratings can follow them strictly, partially, or not at all, said Todd Giles, of Giles Insurance Services.

"Most of Shasta County is currently in a split class 5/9," according to county documents provided by Shasta County Fire Division Chief Mike Hebrard.

The rating of 5 goes to county areas with a "creditable water system" and the rating of 9 goes to areas with less fire flow or other restrictions to fire fighting, according to Hebrard's document.

"More and more carriers are staying away from 8-10 (ratings) than three years ago," Giles said in a telephone interview last week. "(They are) trying to get away from catastrophic loss."

However, no effect has been felt statewide, according to California Department of Insurance Deputy Press Secretary Molly DeFrank.

"... homeowners insurance rates have remained relatively constant over the past several years," according to an e-mail from DeFrank last week. "We have not seen significant rate changes statewide."

DeFrank added that the agency does not track premium data by county.

Giles said all companies he represents use the office's ratings, and some home owners have seen their ratings increase recently.

"Most of our customers saw it about two years ago," Giles said of insurance increases in Shasta and Tehama County, adding that some companies take longer to adopt the ratings changes than others.

The rating company reassessed Tehama County's fire risk in 2007, according to Tehama County Fire Battalion Chief Greg Gutierrez. Rural areas five miles beyond an ISO recognized fire station got a rating of ten. Lake California suffered huge increases in their insurance bill.

Lake California resident and retired insurance consultant Robert Wilkinson said his rates went up by 40 percent.

Gutierrez complimented the volunteers in Lake California as well as the amount of water available, adding that the hydrants rival the Red Bluff water system. However, the station didn't have enough volunteers at the time of assessment, he said, so the station is no longer recognized by ISO. The company then considers the nearest recognized station to be the area's first responder, which lies in downtown Cottonwood or on Bowman road.

Gutierrez said meetings with residents were held proposing a benefit assessment district, but residents largely opposed it. Gutierrez wondered why, with some families seeing their rates go from $500 to over $1,000.

"I'd rather pay $500 per year for a fire station in my backyard than to pay an insurance company to reimburse me when it's all gone," Gutierrez said.

The only Shasta County Fire Department stations not recognized by the office include those in Big Bend and Platina, Hebrard said. Hebrard said recent equipment purchases will improve the ratings in some parts of Shasta County.

In unrecognized stations in the Tehama County Fire Department include Lake California, Ridgeway, Bend, Richfield, Rancho Tehama, Vina, Manton and Paynes Creek.