Firewise Focus: Insurance, Community Grants, & Upcoming Events
UPCOMING EVENTS
INSURANCE OUTLOOK
Insurance pressures continue to rise, and many local homeowners remain on the California FAIR Plan with limited wraparound coverage. State insurance reforms are intended to encourage private insurers to write more policies in wildfire-impacted areas, with the goal of helping move homeowners off the FAIR Plan and back into the standard insurance market. The Fire District continues to meet with carriers to advocate for our community and highlight the importance of mitigation.
The Fire District cannot recommend or validate specific insurers, but wanted to share a representative highlight of the meetings in 2025: Mercury Insurance shared that they are actively trying to bring well-mitigated homes back into the standard insurance market — but only a small percentage of properties will qualify.
Mercury is primarily interested in primary residences that have completed meaningful wildfire risk reduction, such as Safer From Wildfires mitigations or IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home standards. Homes with very high rebuild values, secondary homes, or properties lacking mitigation are unlikely to qualify. Field visits with Mercury leadership confirmed that the focus is on substantial defensible space and structure hardening, not minor issues.
If your home is well-mitigated and you are looking to move off the FAIR Plan, it may be worth shopping the insurance market and asking carriers about mitigation-based eligibility. On that subject, don’t miss the upcoming TOWN TALK - A CALIFORNIA FAIR PLAN CONVERSATION on Monday, Jan 26th.
ARE YOU ELIGIBLE FOR DISCOUNTS?
Many residents are receiving surveys from their insurers to determine if they are eligible for a Community Discount on their homeowners insurance. We’re pleased to report that, based on questions below, over 85% of residents in Truckee Fire Protection Discount satisfy BOTH requirements below:
Are you in a Fire Risk Reduction Community listed by the Board of Forestry? YES!
Truckee Fire Protection District is on the FRRCL (Fire Risk Reduction Community List), and the Wildfire Prevention team renews our status in line the Board of Foresty’s two-year cycle.
Are you in a Firewise USA Site in Good Standing? IT’S LIKELY!
Truckee Fire supports motivated property owners and neighbors, HOAs, ROAs, and condo associations to earn and maintain Firewise recognition. Over 85% of the dwellings in the District are within a Firewise Community. Click to see if your address is in one. There’s more to being Firewise than just getting a discount - when you get in touch with your Resident Leader, find out how you can get involved.
Coyote Run Firewise Workday 2025
GRANT WINDOW NOW OPEN
Truckee Fire’s community grant program is intended to enhance existing forest management and fuel reduction projects/activities, and/or support new projects and programs, with the main objective of reducing the threat and intensity of wildfire in the Truckee and Donner Summit Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and better preparing communities for wildfire. Approximately $500,000 dollars will be allocated to the Grant Program in Fiscal Year 2026-2027 from the Measure T Wildfire Prevention Fund. Firewise Communities, HOAs, and even individual landowners are eligible to apply for certain project categories. Visit www.truckeefire.org/grants for full details, and attend the first WORKSHOP WEBINAR on Thursday Feb 5th for a rundown of the program and application process.
2024/2025 Grant Funded Tundra-TDPUD Partnership Fuels Reduction Project
Thank you for being an integral part of the community and making our region more Fire Resilient!
