WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The summer of 2013 has been another severe fire season for the United States, a trend that has insurance companies bracing for a new normal: higher rates of property damage as Americans move to wildfire-prone areas in ever greater numbers. The deaths of 19 firefighters in Arizona’s Yarnell Hill fire in June, the biggest such loss since 1933, shocked the nation and was the most visible evidence to date of a general trend of rising threats to lives as well as property. The insurance industry has seen a dramatic upward trend in fire-related property losses in recent decades, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute. Wildfires in the United States...
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Lawsuits over the denial of business interruption claims are on the rise as businesses face mounting losses from shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurance broker Nottingham Agency and its agent, Jonathan M. Crook, were named in a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia by legal firm Magna Legal Services against Hartford Fire Insurance Company, according to a Law360 report. In the lawsuit, Magna alleged that Hartford’s refusal to cover the more than $50,000 in lost income the legal firm sustained during the government-ordered shutdown of non-essential services in mid-March was in violation of its business insurance policy. While Hartford claimed that a clause in the policy excluded...
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Fire insurance is critical—but it’s also dangerously easy to neglect. Residential fires are as costly as they are common. In 2015, a structure fire occurred every 63 seconds. 500,000 structure fires occur every year, and the vast majority—77% as of 2015—occurred in residential structures, according to the National Fire Protection Association. That year, structure fires caused $10.3 billion in damage, and most of that damage—$7.2 trillion—occurred in residential structures. Residential property also accounted for more than 97% of non-firefighter deaths, with 2605 Americans losing their lives in structure fires in 2015. So what do you need to know to protect yourself against your worst case...
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Definition of Fire in Insurance The fire insurance contract is defined as “an agreement, whereby one party in return for a consideration undertakes to indemnify the other party against financial loss which the latter may sustain because of certainly defined subject-matter being damaged or destroyed by fire or other defined perils up to an agreed amount”. Fire, to make the insurer liable under the contract, must satisfy two conditions. First, there should be actual fire or ignition, and second, the fire must be fortuities in its nature. It is a well-known fact that fire causes huge losses every year. The individual owner by taking fire Insurance can prevent fire waste to some extent. The...
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You know, sometimes it’s OK to get mad, really mad. Now is such a moment. Back in the early 2000s, I used to dream of retiring and moving to Plumas County, otherwise known as heaven on earth. Finally, in February 2015, I bought a home in Quincy with my husband, Capt. Joe. It was the closest my Alaska guy was willing to get to civilization in California. Between us, we had owned 12 houses over our lifetimes. We considered ourselves knowledgeable buyers. Oh, how wrong you can be. When we started the purchase process — almost five years ago now — I called State Farm, with whom I’d been insured since I was 17 years old. They had insured every home and car I had ever owned. I told them we’d have...
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After your home has been damaged by a fire, getting your life back to normal can be a complex and time consuming process that can leave you feeling overwhelmed. Why Use Us Dealing with a fire insurance claim is often a painstaking process that can be emotionally and financially draining. Insurers are likely to employ a team of experts to investigate your claim and they may even interrogate you in a way that leaves you feeling like you have done something wrong. Our experts can help ease the pressure by looking after everything for you, so you can concentrate on taking care of the rest of your life. We have a huge amount of experience negotiating with insurance companies on behalf of...
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What are the features of fire insurance in India? Fire is a serious risk for pretty much all physical structures, whether it's your house or your shop. This is why insurance is essential to mitigate the loss to building, machinery, goods, furniture and fixtures, plumbing, electrical appliances and other assets in the event of a fire. Fire insurance is an indemnity based contract, where the insurer agrees to compensate for any loss or damage during the policy term, not exceeding the maximum amount for which the premium is being paid. Here are some features offered by fire insurance companies in India that you should know. Coverage As per section 2(6A) of the Indian Insurance Act 1938, in...
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T he engines, big and small, came from all over the country to fight the Kincade fire in the Sonoma county wine region of California. There were trucks from Nevada, South Dakota, Colorado – and from the wildfire protection unit of home insurer AIG. As fires have increasingly encroached on development in California’s wildlands in recent years, communities are grappling with a new paradigm of risk. If the fire creates an existential crisis for people living in high-risk areas, it also creates one for the companies that insure their homes. Insurers of houses, timber and agriculture have contracted with private firefighting agencies for decades. But now, thanks to longer, more devastating fire...
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Frances Mann-Craik loves living amid the trees along Highway 35. But her quiet life in the mountains above Silicon Valley is about to get a lot more expensive. Along with more than a dozen of her neighbors, Mann-Craik recently received a letter from Walnut Creek-based CSAA, a AAA insurer, informing her the company would not be renewing the fire coverage she’s had for nearly two decades. In an Aug. 20 letter sent two months before her coverage expires, the company said it had changed requirements for home insurance policies and that “based on the new requirements, we are no longer able to continue providing insurance coverage for your property.” CSAA is not the only insurer...
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California's new insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, delivered bad news earlier this week to Golden State homeowners about wildfire insurance losses and policy premiums. Lara said estimated insurance costs for the 2018 wildfires, which devastated towns such as Paradise and Redding and caused massive destruction in Malibu, had risen by $2.3 billion to $11.4 billion -- a 25 percent increase and a record for the state. Total losses from California's more than 8,000 wildfires exceeded $18 billion last year. But the steep insured losses also mean higher premiums for homeowners and businesses, including the 3.5 million homes in harm's way from future blazes. Just how much will rates rise? If a...
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