‘Communities will not survive’: Insurance nightmares could empty small California towns

“We have let this landscape go for so long. We need to spend a lot of money to treat the lands we have ignored for almost 30 years, getting them back to a place where they are more resistant to these large, catastrophic fires,” Boston said.

The state’s escalating wildfire risk has driven more and more insurers out of the market in California. A study funded by the National Integrated Drought Information System estimated that, between 1971 and 2021, the number of acres burned in California rose by 172%. That number is only expected to grow, with California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment projecting a 77% increase in the average area burned across the state by 2100.

By Shelby Conn, Freelance Writer