Locals meet with Rep. Kiley to discuss fire insurance

On Tuesday, March 26, a group of Plumas and Sierra county representatives held a meeting with Congressman Kevin Kiley to discuss his home-hardening bill, HR 6861, and the California Fair Plan impact to local communities.

“The home-hardening bill is a good move in the right direction,” said organizers, “and we talked to him about current challenges beyond policy cancellations — for example, fire insurance plans are written by ZIP code and even homes with the lowest 0 fire rating cannot get policies.” Participants also shared ideas on potential federal policies, including fire mitigation strategies on Forest Service lands.

Kiley presented information from the local, state and federal level regarding California wildfire impact, the current insurance crisis, the importance of the home-hardening bill for preventative measures, and ideas on legislative policy and improvements for federal forest land management.

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As a followup, the group members sent a letter to Kiley’s office sharing the top five opportunities they believe would help meet the challenges currently faced by the district, the state and the nation:

• Create additional policy to support the Safe Home Act and recognize the individual efforts of residents to mitigate fuels and harden their properties.
• Seek more opportunities to cultivate home hardening retrofit programs, especially focused on populations with social vulnerabilities who might be the least likely to have the means to perform home hardening projects.
• Address forest public land federal funding fire management expenditures. Support is needed to gain visibility for public land projects and help work advance.
• Work toward revising federal public land fire mitigation policies to update outdated processes and reassess post-fire landscape needs.
• Utilize direct experience to tell the story, seek support and solve the problems. The group encouraged Kiley to reach out to Jeff Dupras, retired U.S. Forest Service division chief, to provide first-hand information on wildland firefighting, forest management and effects on rural communities.

To contact Congressman Kevin Kiley, visit https://kiley.house.gov/ and use the “contact” button.

Information provided by Lost Sierra Chamber of Commerce