According to state regulators, the new Oregon burn risk map won't result in higher insurance premiums.
State financial authorities stated Friday that insurers do not intend to utilize a state map to decide coverage.
According to state financial regulators, there is no need to be concerned that a new map illustrating wildfire dangers throughout Oregon would result in higher home insurance rates.
The Oregon Bureau of Business and Consumer Services, which governs property insurance, has been informed that insurers have not submitted the necessary documentation to increase rates for high-risk homes and that they would not be using the maps to determine their insurance and rate structures.
The state's wildfire risk map was not used, and insurance firms in Oregon presently have no intentions to utilize it, according to Mark Peterson, the department's communications director, in making decisions. "Insurers informed the division they weren't really going to use the map during informal conversations prior to the state wildfire danger map's release."
After the Oregon Bureau of Forestry's Burn Danger Explorer map was made public on June 30, a number of contentious public hearing sessions followed.
The 2 million tax lots all across state that were included on the searchable map, which was produced in partnership with academics of Oregon State University, were classified into one of five degrees of wildfire risk: nil, low, moderate, high, or extreme. The Forestry Department sent letters to almost 80,000 property owners notifying them that they may be subject to upcoming fire-resistant building requirements after they learned they were in high- or extremely high-risk zones.
Many people discovered that their property was already classified as high or severe risk the day the chart was published, and many were baffled and irritated by how that risk had been allocated and how that would effect their premiums and coverage. Even one conference that was supposed to take place near Grants Land was relocated online as a result of threats.
About five weeks later, in response to public uproar and pressures from Republican state lawmakers, the Forestry Department withdrew the map. Officials are presently revising it while taking public feedback into account. Some people disagree with the department's assertion that insurance premiums wouldn't alter because of their personal experience. In Baker County, close to the Elkhorn Mountains, Kevin Cassidy owns land. Last month, he informed the Capital Chronicle that his insurer had decided not to renew his 20-year-old property insurance coverage because it fell into the high-risk category.
It wasn't until he received that contact from his insurance company that he learned the Department of Forests was even producing this map, he claimed. Cassidy discovered a new business to provide him with coverage, but the cost of his premium has doubled.
"Is there a chance I might start a fire out over here? There are several locations that are vulnerable given the correct circumstances, according to Cassidy. Is it severe in the way it is? No.”
As a result of the state's wildfire risk map, Peterson of Department for Consumer and Services said, "Anyone who is being advised their insurance is now being non-renewed or cancelled should submit a complaint with division."
The state issued an advise to insurance agents informing them that insurance companies do not utilize the map to calculate rates and coverage and that it is against Oregon Insurance Code to circulate misleading or false information regarding future rate increases.
In Oregon, there are around 150 insurance providers of property insurance, and the majority of them, according to Peterson, have already evaluated the likelihood of fires.
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