Even though their home avoided any damage from two recent wildfires, one family in Arizona was dismayed to learn that their insurance provider was still dropping them due to significant fire risk — leaving them high and dry in the event of a disaster.
What happened?
In the last year-and-a-half, over 2,100 acres have burned in the greater Phoenix area, local station 12 News reported. While resident Kevin O'Neil was lucky enough to avoid any damage to his home during that time, he still encountered a major issue.
"My wife had received a letter," O'Neil told 12 News. "They said, 'Due to the fire activity, we will not be really renewing your policy.' I was shocked."
Speaking with other residents of his community, he realized that numerous families were in the same situation.
"I get it. The insurance companies are there to make money," he said. "We all need to make money. But at the same time, these are our homes."
Similar situations have been cropping up around the country — from states with high fire risk to coastal areas vulnerable to severe hurricane damage, floods, and tornadoes.
Why is the stripping of insurance so concerning?
What makes this predicament so troubling, scientists warn, is that all of these natural disasters — from fires to floods — are exacerbated by human-driven global heating.
The burning of dirty fuels has led to staggering amounts of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, which in turn has created a weather-amplifying pattern known as the greenhouse effect.
This means that, as humans continue to produce emissions — through everything from transportation to manufacturing — hurricanes are continuing to grow more severe, droughts last longer, and wildfires blaze hotter. All of these issues put homes at risk.
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What can be done?
Unfortunately, when it comes to assessing home insurance in disaster-prone areas, there is no obvious solution.
While most states offer a state-backed "plan of last resort," these have quickly become overwhelmed by the vast number of homeowners seeking their coverage. In order to assess the issue and determine possible solutions, organizations like Arizona's Mitigation and Resiliency Council are being formed.
In the council's first meeting, members pointed out that new homes are still being built in fire-prone areas, meaning fire prevention and mitigation efforts are going to become even more expensive — and insurers may be incentivized to drop entire areas even more quickly because of it.
While experimenting with disaster-proof building materials is a worthwhile effort in the short term, having governments and corporations work to reduce their planet-warming emissions in a timely, organized way is the only true solution for the underlying problem.
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