LA fires: 1000s had insurance cancelled in the months before the disaster - what's the climate link?

Losing a home and treasured possessions is a heartbreaking scenario for anyone. But when there’s no insurance to cover the losses, heartbreak becomes a catastrophe for the homeowner.

This is the situation thousands of LA homeowners are facing as the scale of the uninsured losses becomes clear.

In Pacific Palisades, a neighbourhood where almost every home has been destroyed by the fires, thousands of insurance policy renewals have been refused in just the last year. State Farm, the region’s biggest insurer with a portfolio of 250,000 homes in LA County, dropped 1,600 policies in the Palisades in July 2024, and more than 2,000 policies in other LA zip codes.

State Farm told Euronews Green that it is currently processing over 5,700 home and auto claims in relation to the wildfires. Their spokesperson added that “California’s insurance market is uniquely complex, but we remain engaged with state officials to improve the availability of insurance for residents.”

The situation with State Farm is echoed by other big insurers in the region. According to data from the California Department of Insurance, between 2020 and 2022, insurance companies declined to renew 2.8 million homeowner policies in the state. Over half a million were in Los Angeles County.

Others have been offered insurance, but at astronomical sums. The LA Times cites one homeowner, Francis Bischetti, who received a renewal quote of $18,000 (€17,600), up from $4,500 (€4,400) the previous year, for his home in Pacific Palisades.

Like many homeowners facing extortionate policy costs or struggling to find an insurer at all, Bischetti decided to ‘go bare,’ and not buy any coverage at all. Bischetti’s home was burned to the ground on Tuesday.

As the impacts of the climate