LOUISVILLE, Colo. — More than three years after the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses, survivors tell Denver7 they are still feeling burned by the insurance industry.
On Monday, about 50 neighbors who had homes damaged or destroyed by the wildfire met with state lawmakers in Louisville, asking questions and sharing personal frustrations with the rebuilding process. They asked questions about what can be done to make the insurance process simpler amid rising premiums. Some neighbors raised concerns that while they had received insurance payouts, they were still paying interest on mortgages their mortgage companies should have already resolved.
Extreme Weather Survivors, a nationwide group that brings communities together and directs them to resources following natural disasters, organized Monday’s meeting. Neighbors were invited to share their experiences and write postcards to state and federal lawmakers about their experiences and what they want to see change.
“There are still people in this community that are struggling to rebuild,” said Colorado State Rep. Kyle Brown, a Democrat representing District 12 in Boulder and Broomfield counties. He joined State Senator Judy Amabile at Monday’s meeting.
One of those still struggling to rebuild is Judi Kern, who is a Louisville City Council member.
“My home was a total loss that day,” said Kern, who told Denver7 she attended Monday’s gathering to hear community concerns so she could “better advocate” for changes her neighbors want to see.
One issue she knows personally is the community being underinsured after the fire.
“We had about 50% of the home dwelling coverage needed to actually rebuild our home,” she explained. “The insurance company paid us out. They admittedly said, ‘You are so severely underinsured that we will go ahead and pay you the policy.’ But there was just no way to have a home built for that [amount].”
A study that included University of Colorado Boulder researchers found 74% of policyholders were underinsured after the Marshall Fire, and 36% were severely underinsured, with coverage limits less than three-quarters of their home’s replacement cost.
Some community members, including Kern, told lawmakers they wish there was more clarity about how much coverage they were buying.
“I think what I continue to hear is that people want more transparency,” said Brown. “They want more accountability from their insurance companies.”
Brown sponsored House Bill 25-1182, which was signed into law this year. It requires insurance companies to share information about their wildfire risk models and scoring and take into account the steps homeowners take to lower their wildfire risk.
“Insurance companies need to price that into their policies so that your premium reflects the mitigation efforts that you and your community, and maybe your county, have done to make sure that your home is less risky,” Brown told Denver7.
Denver7 reached out to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, which said the law is an “opportunity” for transparency and education regarding wildfire risk mitigation, but it’s also tied to science-based standards, so not all mitigation will lead to a discounted premium. The group added, however, that the law and the issue in general are “complicated.”
- On a recent episode of “Real Talk," a joint public affairs show produced by Denver7 and Colorado Public Radio, Denver7's Micah Smith and CPR's Nathan Fernando-Frescas spoke with state insurance officials about the complicated issue of insurance coverage. Watch the episode in the video player below:
Both Brown and Amabile talked about the need for compromise when working with the insurance industry to make changes.
“Insurance companies need to be held accountable, they need to be transparent about what they're doing,” said Brown. “But there are ways that we could drive the insurance companies out of Colorado entirely, and it's important for us to work with them to find workable solutions so that people are protected.
“It doesn't serve anybody if we don't have any insurance available in Colorado because we've put up too many rules and made it too onerous and too expensive to offer insurance in Colorado,” he added. “So we need to make sure that we are protecting consumers but also making insurance more available and affordable.”
Another potential solution for some Coloradans is rolling out this year. The Colorado FAIR Plan is a last-resort policy that offers actual cash value up to $750,000 for losses from fire or lightning for those who have been rejected at least three times by standard insurance companies.
Kern hopes to break ground on a new house here this fall, but many of her friends have since had to move to rebuild somewhere cheaper.
“I would like to see nobody go through what we went through, the fear that you call your insurance company the day of an event and you think you're going to be okay, and then within a week, maybe two, you find out you don't know if you're ever going to be able to come home, and you've lost everything you have,” she said. “At a bare-bones minimum, when they insure their personal property and their place of, like, their home, where they live, they should know that they get to rebuild that and bring their family back to their home.”
