In the wake of frequent wildfires in California, many Santa Clarita Valley residents say they’re losing their insurance or facing large price hikes. 

Gloria Palmieri, a longtime Saugus resident off Bouquet Canyon Road near Vasquez Canyon Road, saw her annual premium skyrocket from $4,424 in 2023 to $12,265 in 2024. This year, the price went up to $14,081. Like other Californians in fire hazard severity zones, Palmieri turned to the California FAIR Plan, a temporary solution that covers her for a fraction of the cost but leaves her uncertain about the future.  

She said she didn’t have a choice. 

“That was just too much, because nothing’s happening,” Palmieri said during a recent interview. “I take care of the property. It’s groomed. Nothing is overgrown. I have more than 200 feet cleared all around the house. I have broken asphalt all around.” 

When Palmieri saw the price increase, she called her agent, and instead of renewing her policy, she cancelled it. Almost $1,200 a month was just too expensive, she said. 

Palmieri has lived in her home on about 40 acres of land since 2008. During her time there, she’s been insured through Farmers Insurance. As of February, however, she’s had the California FAIR Plan and pays less than $5,000 for the year. But she only has that plan for a year. She doesn’t know what to expect for 2026. 

And while Farmers raised her rates, no one from the company had come out to look at the property nor did Palmieri send her agent any updated pictures of the place for them to determine any new hazards, if any. Her agent, Palmieri said, simply looked at her property by way of something like Google Earth, and from that, and probably other factors, she said, applied the price increase. 

Palmieri worries about the possibility of a fire in light of the recent wildfires in L.A. County. While she wasn’t in her home when the Buckweed Fire in October 2007 threatened that very same area, she knows another blaze could spring up easily.  

She said she does what she can to lower her risk. She spread asphalt millings around her property as a means to help protect the property from potential fires or spread. She also has four fire hydrants and hoses on the property, and a tractor to keep the grounds clean.  

Palmieri said that when Farmers gave her word of her increased rate, she initially contacted someone directly with the California FAIR Plan and was told they were no longer writing plans. Luckily, Palmieri’s Farmers agent could help get California FAIR Plan insurance.   

Asked what she’ll do if she can’t get affordable insurance when her FAIR Plan expires — or if she can’t get any insurance at all — Palmieri said she doesn’t know. She’s 80 years old and isn’t looking to start over somewhere else. She loves where she lives. 

“It’s beautiful and it’s quiet,” she said. “I like to watch the sun rise in the morning, and to watch it on the other side go down and see the moon come up. And we’ll see the stars. I mean, it’s beautiful out here.”  

She often invites groups of friends to come over to watch harvest moons, calling the area “God’s country.” She wants to do whatever she can to stay, so long as she can manage to do it. 

Ross Pool, a Stevenson Ranch resident, whose home backs up against the hills between Poe Parkway and Pico Canyon Road, has had his issues. He bought his home off Poe Parkway in July 2003 and was evacuated that October during the Val Verde-Simi Valley fire. But he hasn’t had any close calls since, he said. 

However, in February 2024, his insurance company — also Farmers Insurance — sent him a letter indicating that they were reviewing their policies. Pool said the company requested pictures of each side of his house, stating that he needed at least 5 feet of concrete around the perimeter of his entire structure. 

Pool took the pictures, sent them to his agent, and not long after that the insurer sent him another letter indicating that they were cancelling him. 

Luis Sahagun, director of Farmers corporate communications, sent a statement to respond to matters of this nature: “As part of our ongoing strategy, we pursue targeted underwriting actions to better manage our risk exposure in the state. Also, as loss costs and risk have increased, rates have been adjusted to better reflect these changed conditions. Farmers customers who have questions about their policies are encouraged to connect with their agent to review alternative coverage options and possible ways to save.” 

Pool said he sought out alternative options with the American Automobile Association. 

“I’ve been a member of the Auto Club for 50 years,” Pool said in a recent telephone interview. “So, I contacted them and asked them to insure me, and they declined. I then called USAA (United Services Automobile Association), who supports veterans and people in the military. So, as a veteran, I called them, and they declined to insure me. I then called the Stan Hackett Insurance Agency, and on May 22, 2024, I wrote him a check for three insurance policies.” 

In addition to other coverage, he now has the California FAIR Plan to protect him in the event of a fire. It’s good until July. 

Pool said he was previously paying $3,404 a year when he was with Farmers. He now pays $5,443 a year for insurance, an almost 60% increase. 

Andrea Anderson of Newhall, who owns a 45-unit apartment complex in East Hollywood, has also had her share of insurance troubles. In 2025, her insurance for her apartment building went from $22,000 a year with State Farm to $68,000 a year with Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Co., Amwins Access Insurance Services, LLC, and Century Surety Co. 

“The problem I ran into was State Farm sent out a letter in December stating that they were not going to renew my policy, that they were not renewing any apartment buildings at all,” Anderson said during a recent telephone interview. “And then my policy expired at the end of January, the fires were going on, and nobody — I mean, nobody — wanted to even look at writing anything new.”  

In a State Farm letter from Jan. 27, 2025, to Anderson, a manager wrote, “State Farm general Insurance Co. is actively working to strengthen its financial position in California. In doing so, State Farm has made the difficult but necessary decision to discontinue offering commercial multi-peril policies specifically covering apartment risks.” 

The letter detailed impacts to the company, including inflation, catastrophe exposure, reinsurance costs and the limitations of working within decades-old insurance regulations. 

But Anderson couldn’t go without insurance. She reached out to Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Acton, and the senator’s office filed a grievance on her behalf. Anderson said she knew the California FAIR Plan wouldn’t even cover her building. They’d only go up to $3 million, and she needed more than that.  

“I got a message from somebody from the state of California’s Insurance Department stating that they were going to do all of these different things and reach out to State Farm,” she said. “But State Farm doesn’t want to renew anybody’s apartment building anywhere.”  

A State Farm statement from its website on March 20, 2024, indicated as much, announcing that it was withdrawing from offering commercial apartment policies with the non-renewal of approximately 42,000 policies, indicating that renters insurance would not be affected. 

Meanwhile, Anderson found insurance, but for $68,000 a year. She said she didn’t have $68,000 lying around. She had to finance it and is now paying interest on it. 

Anderson’s apartment building has been in her family for over 50 years. Her aunt bought it in the 1960s and Anderson inherited it in 2017. But Anderson’s now facing quite a dilemma. 

“My building is rent controlled,” she said. “I’m only allowed to increase rents by 4% per year. I’ve had people who have lived in that building since the ’80s, who are paying less than $1,000. Anybody who were to move in now would pay $1,800 for the same thing.” 

Anderson added that she has some tenants — good tenants — who were there when her aunt owned the building, and they’re currently only paying $700 a month. These people aren’t going to move. But what’s Anderson to do if she can’t get new tenants, if she can’t raise rent more than 4% a year, even with her insurance going up over 209%? 

“If I’m restricted on how much I can increase somebody’s rent every year to try and keep up with all the other increased costs,” she said, “how is it that the insurance is not regulated?” 

Anderson also spoke of a Realtor friend of hers who manages several buildings whose insurance company dropped one of her policies because, as the company said, the electrical was not up to date. 

“Now they (the friend) would have to spend thousands of dollars to do something with the electrical in order for a new company to insure them,” she said, “and I’m like, ‘If you’ve had insurance with the same place for 10 years, your electrical hasn’t changed. They didn’t have a problem insuring you 10 years ago.’ I feel like all these insurance companies are just making excuses so they can boot you out of their system.” 

Natalie Blancardi, a Valencia resident and Realtor, who sells homes in the Santa Clarita, San Fernando and Antelope valleys, said she’s been recently warning her clients to never fall behind on insurance payments because she believes companies are looking for any reason to cancel customers. 

She spoke of one client of hers who had called her in panic. This person did not have the monthly insurance payment on auto pay and missed a payment by one day. The insurance company cancelled the policy right then and there, Blancardi said, and her client had to get insurance elsewhere. The cost of the new policy was significantly higher.  

“When this whole thing happened,” Blancardi said, “we had a brokers meeting, and they were telling us to tell our clients, ‘Please, remind your clients: Do not default on your insurance. They’re going to find every possible reason to cancel you.’” 

Blancardi added that, currently, about 35% of her clients must get the California FAIR Plan, which typically only covers them, she said, for a year. But they eventually have to find something, and hopefully it’s affordable.  

“What it boils down to is finances,” she said. “You can get insurance. It’s just a question of how much you’re willing to pay.” 

Blancardi said she feels the federal government has to step in, adding that they can’t allow insurance companies to get away with what they’ve been doing, cashing in on the insurance premium every month, year over year.  

“Now that the homeowners need it, you’re backing out?” she asked. “That’s such a cowardly thing to do.” 

A state official confirmed on Feb. 25 that the California Department of Insurance is adding a handful of Santa Clarita Valley ZIP codes to the recently declared moratorium from California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.    

Lara announced a fire-insurance moratorium Jan. 10 in response to concerns about fires that surrounded the SCV, while L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger said at the time that questions about fire insurance were the No. 1 concern from her constituents.  

As of Feb. 25, according to a text message that same day from Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, the moratorium includes residents specifically impacted by the Hughes Fire in January, including those with the ZIP codes 91354, 91355, 91381, 91383, 91384, 91390, 93040, 93222, 93225, 93243 and 93532. 

According to a March 14, 2025, California Department of Insurance release, Lara acted to protect policyholders in a State Farm emergency rate increase: “In an effort to safeguard Californians during the ongoing insurance crisis and stabilize the market, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has provisionally approved State Farm’s request for an emergency interim rate increase following recent devastating wildfires only if the company can justify it with data in a public hearing scheduled for April 8, 2025.” 

Additionally, the release read, Lara called on State Farm to halt non-renewals and pursue a $500 million capital infusion from its parent company to restore financial stability.