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Insurance Commssioner Advocates Incentives for Homeowners

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner says fire chiefs can help insurance industry executives motivate homeowners to fire proof their properties. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Insurance Commssioner Advocates Incentives for Homeowners

(Photo: Tracey Jarman (L), Commissioner Steve Poizner (center) and State Fire Chief Kate Durgan, meet with insurance industry executives to discuss fire mitigation measures for homeowners. Alison St John/KPBS )

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner says fire chiefs can help insurance industry executives motivate homeowners to fire proof their properties.  KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

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By bringing fire fighting and insurance professionals together, Poizner hopes to  create a standardized set of effective fire prevention measures for homeowners.

He says fire insurance premiums should vary, depending on how many of those measures policy holders take.

Poizner:   If you take steps and you have the proper type of venting and clearance from your property then you should get the benefit of that in terms of lower insurance policy costs. We want to provide incentives and we’re going to work on this now for the next several months

Consumer advocates say the plan is a good one, though they warn against insurance companies adopting punitive policies, that raise rates prohibitively high for people who do not - or cannot - take certain preventive measures.

Some issues remain to be resolved. For ex38le, SDG & E recommends planting trees for shade to save energy, whereas fire chiefs recommend cutting down trees as a safety measure.

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Cal Fire is expected to put out fire hazard maps in the near future, and these could also affect how insurance companies set rates. Alison St John, KPBS news.