OROVILLE, Calif. — About 46,000 policyholders impacted by the Thompson Fire in Butte County won’t have to worry about losing their home insurance policies for now, under a directive from the state Insurance Commissioner.

The Department of Insurance issued a one-year moratorium on non-renewals or cancellations regardless of loss. The office is able to do so under a 2018 state law.

Lynette Bailey, a Kelly Ridge resident, who was evacuated in the Thompson Fire, says despite the moratorium, her area in recent years since the 2018 Camp Fire has become less attractive to major insurance. Just this year, Mercury Insurance told her it wouldn’t renew her policy, despite taking steps to harden her home against fire.

“I cut down a ton of trees, paid $3,000 to clear out around my house and do whatever they wanted me to do so I could stay insured by Mercury and they still canceled me,” she said. “Now I have California FAIR Plan, which I’m a little scared of because if something does happen to my property, how long will it take the State of California to get on the ball and pay insurance claims?”

Bailey says the state’s less comprehensive FAIR Plan costs her $2,400 a month compared to her old plan at $1,600 a month.

“You’ll see tons and tons of fuel as wood that’s been cut down over the years just laying around waiting to go up in flames and that puts Kelly Ridge community in a really bad situation,” Bailey said pointing to vegetation on nearby state-owned land.

Insurance experts say even areas like Oroville have become subject to policy scarcity.

“I used to have anywhere between 10-12 conservatively homeowners policies that I could write with different companies and probably all but two of them stopped writing,” Rudy Smith said. Smith is a Chico-based insurance agent.

He says if insurers do return to write policies, many of them come back with deep restrictions.

“They’re really fire-sensitive,” he said. “So anything remotely close to where a fire may have been, they’re not writing at all. It’s just getting more and more difficult to have insurance and we haven’t had anyone come back into the market that’s been like full-blown ready to go and we’re all kind of waiting for that… The community needs it, California needs it.”