Conversation

“…the population of unincorporated Butte County dropped from 80,518 before the Camp fire to 59,414 this year. Paradise went from 26,581 residents to 4,608 in 2020, with people slowly trickling back this year to eke the population up to 6,046. “
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“Out of the 10,707 residences lost in town, 946 houses and 168 multifamily units have been rebuilt. In the unincorporated areas, 3,239 homes were destroyed, and 249 new ones have been completed.”
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“There are two other major factors at play in pushing people out: Fire insurance is very expensive in the unincorporated area, $8,000 to $10,000 a year for a modest home, residents say, and building supplies everywhere have tripled or more in cost. A piece of plywood can run $75”
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“[PG&E] agreed to put $13.5 billion into a trust for victims of the Camp fire, the 2017 North Bay fires and a 2015 fire in Butte County. But as of April the trust reported it had paid out only $195 million, about 1.4% of what it pledged.”
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Basically nobody looks good here: - PG&E has old lines in high fire-risk areas that start fires - CA property taxes drive built environment sprawl towards wilderness periphery - Fire insurance is obviously too expensive - Govt backstops with more building code regulation
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Replying to
Judging from the rest of this thread, I suspect you might agree that, in a way, fire insurance is not too expensive. It's a market signal that fire-prone areas are dangerous to live in. If the state forces down insurance rates that will just encourage more development.
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