By TAYLOR CALDWELL
Ward Media Staff Reporter

PLAIN — As the upper valley grapples with the risk of wildfire, homeowners are now facing rising insurance costs and growing numbers of policy nonrenewals.

“The availability of insurance is based on the perception of the risk, and the cost of insurance is directly tied to the cost of claims, and those can be two totally separate things,” said Senior Property and Casualty Policy Advisor David Forte from the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

According to Forte, costs have increased in tandem with the increase in homeowners’ claims, noting that claims in Washington State totalled $1 billion in 2020, and $2.5 billion in 2025. His office has also seen a large increase in nonrenewals due to perceived risks. In recent years, Forte said insurance companies started to shift from not renewing with far-out, isolated properties to not renewing entire neighborhoods. In 2024, his office saw 114 nonrenewals in the 98826 zip code and 440 throughout Chelan County. 

However, a new designation program could help homeowners increase their likelihood of coverage, said Forte. The Wildfire Prepared Home designation program, which became available to Washington residents in April, is a set of research-based mitigation actions that help homeowners and builders in high-risk areas better protect their homes and neighborhoods from wildfire.

“We're excited about it. We've heard complaints for years that people are confused, they don't know exactly what mitigation to do that's going to impact their insurance company,” said Forte. “This is the direction that I'm here to share with you.”

Led by Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), the program focuses on ways to stop conflagration, or when a fire becomes particularly large and destructive. This can happen when a wildfire reaches an environment where it can easily and quickly spread from structure to structure, said Forte.

“The actual urban fuel is the one that's generating the fire. It's no longer a wildland fire, it's now an urban fire,” Forte said.

To become designated, homeowners must meet all of the mitigation requirements on the IBHS checklist, then submit pictures of their work in their application, which includes a fee. Once reviewed, IBHS sends out a third-party to the property for verification. IBHS reviews and assigns the designation, which stays in effect for three years. However, homeowners must submit photos yearly to show that mitigation steps are still in place.

“Once you have the designation, all the insurance companies also know you have the designation, so that means you're the best insured property on the block,” said Forte.

According to Forte, the designation doesn’t guarantee rate discounts or insurability, but it does increase the likelihood of getting coverage. While the program is still fairly new, he is hopeful that the more data and feedback that comes in, the more of an impact it will have on rates and coverage.

In the meantime, Washington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer has been working to create more guaranteed consumer protections and transparency, said Forte. During the last legislative session, she proposed two bills that would increase consumer protections from nonrenewals and cancellations as well as require companies to disclose their risk assessments and ways in which consumers can improve their score. While neither passed, Forte said similar bills would be reintroduced next year.

Homeowners can find out more information about the designation program at wildfireprepared.org.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media