Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara ordered insurers to maintain residential property coverage for more than 147,000 California policyholders following the Gifford Fire, after Gavin Newsom issued an emergency declaration on December 23.

The directive applies across Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties.

The mandatory one-year moratorium bars insurance cancellations and non-renewals for homes located within or adjacent to 29 ZIP Codes tied to the wildfire perimeter.

The protection applies regardless of whether a property suffered direct damage and runs for twelve months from the date of the Governor’s declaration.

The order was issued through a formal bulletin from the California Department of Insurance and activates statutory authority designed to stabilize insurance access after declared wildfire disasters.

According to Beinsure, these moratoriums have become a central tool in California’s attempt to keep homeowners insured as wildfire exposure escalates.

Lara said the action is intended to ease pressure on residents already dealing with displacement, recovery, and uncertainty. The moratorium, he said, buys time while broader insurance availability is restored in high-risk regions.

The Commissioner’s authority to impose these protections traces back to legislation he authored in 2018 while serving in the state senate.

The law allows temporary relief from insurance non-renewals and cancellations for residents living within or near a gubernatorial-declared wildfire emergency, extending beyond cases involving total property loss.

During 2025, these moratorium provisions protected more than 1.2m homeowners statewide. Consumers who lost coverage before the emergency declaration and now face difficulty securing insurance, or who remain dissatisfied with existing policies, are encouraged to seek assistance from the Department of Insurance to review available options.

Lara linked the latest action to his Sustainable Insurance Strategy, a reform agenda aimed at stabilizing California’s insurance market amid climate-driven risk.

Under that framework, six insurers, including Farmers, Mercury, CSAA, USAA, Pacific Specialty, and California Casualty, have committed to maintaining or expanding homeowners coverage in wildfire-affected areas.

Last year, Lara also backed legislation expanding moratorium protections beyond homeowners. The Business Insurance Protection Act, SB 547, extends safeguards to businesses, homeowners and condominium associations, affordable housing providers, senior living facilities, and nonprofit organizations. The law took effect on January 1, 2026.

Consumers can verify whether their ZIP Code falls within the Gifford Fire moratorium through the Department of Insurance website.

The department also provides support via phone and digital channels for policyholders who believe insurers are not complying with the law or who need guidance on claims and coverage.

Since taking office in 2019, Lara has advanced a series of wildfire-related insurance actions. These include launching California’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, establishing the Safer from Wildfires framework in coordination with emergency and preparedness agencies, updating pricing regulations to reflect mitigation efforts, expanding coverage limits for the first time in 25 years, and sponsoring legislation aimed at increasing claim payouts while reducing administrative barriers after evacuations.

Following state emergency declarations, the Department of Insurance works with CAL FIRE and CalOES to define wildfire perimeters covered by mandatory moratoriums.

The department said it will continue coordinating with those agencies as additional emergencies arise.

The Gifford Fire was a megafire that burned across San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County in California during the 2025 wildfire season.

The fire ignited on August 1, 2025, and reached full containment on September 28 after nearly two months of active suppression.

In total, the blaze consumed 131,614 acres, equivalent to more than 53,000 hectares, placing it among the largest wildfires in the United States that year.

Fire activity concentrated near the community of Pozo, where structural losses were limited but not avoided.

Five structures were destroyed and two sustained damage as the fire advanced through rural and wildland-urban interface areas. Despite the scale of the burn area, the level of structural loss remained relatively contained compared with other large California fires in recent years.

The Gifford Fire added to a growing list of large-scale wildfires driven by dry conditions and prolonged fire weather patterns across the western US in 2025, reinforcing pressure on emergency response systems, insurers, and local communities exposed to repeat fire risk.