SFR Old Trails Fire Update

Sorta fishing-related
Before I left nearly two weeks ago I read that you wondered how your house would fare. So sorry to learn that you lost it. Add my sympathies to the many expressed here.

I heard that 600 to 700 homes were at risk. Is there a tally as to how many houses were lost to this fire? I was driving through Clinton, B.C. Saturday, and we thought we would stop there for lunch. Not possible; the whole town was closed down and evacuated due to a wildfire. The town was saved, but just outside the city limits for several miles each direction we saw so much destruction, many homes, barns, and commercial buildings, but a patchwork of houses remained unaffected, or nearly so. The loss to so many wildfires is nearly incomprehensible. Very sobering moment to drive through an area that had been on fire the previous few days. The evacuation was lifted by the time we reached Cache Creek so people were able to return to town, but those who lost their homes have little to return to.

I hope your travails with insurance work out OK, Dean.
 
Homeowners in neighborhoods adjacent to our home in Sunriver are being notified their fire insurance will not be renewed once their current policy expires, causing a scramble to find carriers willing to issue policies at 2x and 3x their former cost.
We're not alone in this, extreme weather of fire, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes have jacked rates across the country with an acceleration of insurance companies pulling out of many states or the home insurance business all together.
The counter to this is 'home hardening/home resiliency' measures to meet local geographic dangers.
This world is changing in so many ways faster than ever, and damn few are for the positive.
 
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SurfnFish said:
Homeowners in the surrounding areas are being notified their fire insurance will not be renewed once current policy expires, so a scramble to find carriers willing to issue policies at 2x and 3x their former cost.
We're not alone in this, extreme weather of fire, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes have jacked rates across the country with an acceleration of insurance companies pulling out of many states or the home insurance business all together.
The counter to this is 'home hardening/home resiliency' measures to meet local geographic dangers.
This world is changing in so many ways faster than ever, and damn few are for the positive.
Click to expand...
I'm in the Shasta Trinity Natl. Forest and have been dealing with this same BS. Our homeowners insurance has tripled since we bought our home in 2021. My insurance is now almost as much as my principal and interest. It's insane.
 
To make matters even worse in the suburban neighborhoods that are adjacent to wildlands in Spokane is how a big wildfire triggers copycat pyromania. Spokane was now had quite a few arsonists starting fires after the recent disaster. I believe most of them have been arrested.

I suspect it's a psychological phenomena like publicized teenage suicides in that those susceptible are sometimes propelled into action by the constant overwhelming presence in all sorts of media.
 
krusty said:
To make matters even worse in the suburban neighborhoods that are adjacent to wildlands in Spokane is how a big wildfire triggers copycat pyromania. Spokane was now had quite a few arsonists starting fires after the recent disaster. I believe most of them have been arrested.

I suspect it's a psychological phenomena like publicized teenage suicides in that those susceptible are sometimes propelled into action by the constant overwhelming presence in all sorts of media.
Click to expand...
Mental health specialists estimate that 1 in 8 individuals struggle with mental illness to varying degrees, and 5% of them are attracted to pyromania, so...
 
krusty said:
To make matters even worse in the suburban neighborhoods that are adjacent to wildlands in Spokane is how a big wildfire triggers copycat pyromania. Spokane was now had quite a few arsonists starting fires after the recent disaster. I believe most of them have been arrested.

I suspect it's a psychological phenomena like publicized teenage suicides in that those susceptible are sometimes propelled into action by the constant overwhelming presence in all sorts of media.
Click to expand...
You hit the nail on the head!
 
While our home was spared (by a very narrow margin) I've now learned a few things about the ability of full replacement value homeowners' insurance carriers to convert a policy to Actual Cash Value should the affected homeowner elect to NOT rebuild the same home on the same property.

The fundamental (and very important) difference is that the ACV payout will be reduced by huge amounts because the insurer is able to depreciate literally everything lost, often reducing the total homeowner's compensation by 30% to 50%. Plus you receive no compensation for the property you decided to walk away from, although you can sell it after you pay for its cleanup and restoration.

Have elderly neighbors who were hoping their large home burnt down so they could get a rancher somewhere else more suitable for their twilight years. I suspect that should that have happened they'd have been in for a very rude awakening.

A great many boomers don't downsize from the 'big' house because a huge chunk of equity would be eaten up by the very high costs of much smaller homes.
 
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There's currently a fire off 104 west of the Hood Canal Bridge.
The bridge is open, but detours are in place, and traffic is quite congested.

For those traveling from the Hood Canal Bridge:

• There is a soft closure at the bridge roundabout, with through traffic being redirected onto Paradise Bay Road.

• Local traffic only may continue westbound on SR 104 as far as South Point Road.

• At South Point Road, there is a hard closure and traffic will not be permitted beyond that point.

• Westbound SR 104 traffic can detour using Paradise Bay Road.

• Eastbound SR 104 traffic is being detoured at SR 19.
 
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