Any information about the Pacific Palisades Fire

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Have you somehow transported back to 1968, you're starting to sound like a dirty hippie!

LOL! I’ve woken up to a lot of things over the least few years.

[jyl]

Insurance companies serve an important function, of taking on risk too large for individuals/businesses to bear, for a price. For the system to work, insurers have to be paid adequately for that risk, or insurers and capital leave the market. CA and FL and most states have tried to, in effect, shield homeowners from the true risk of certain areas. That causes over development and inadequate construction/prevention in those areas. Insurers leaving the market is how the price and therefore system get rebalanced. It sucks for homeowners who were underpaying the true costs of living there; it is good for other homeowners who didn’t choose to live there. I know, it’s not like most people consciously knew they were underpaying, it will be rough on them.

I don’t consider health insurance to be true insurance. Those companies aren’t taking on risk like real insurers, they simply charge a fee for the “service” of receiving money, taking as big a cut as they can, including from drugs using their owned PBMs and from services using their owned providers, and passing as little of it as slowly as possible on to pay for people’s medical care. They are toll-takers and they suck.

Did you know Medicare is the most efficient medical system in the US - it spends far less on administration, pays lower rates for medical services, pays less for drugs, and provides better healthcare, than private payors like UHC. If everyone was on Medicare, the country as a while would pay less for healthcare and our health would be better.

[jyl]

State Farm has lost something like $10BN a year for the last few years (from memory, not exact). It desperately needs to raise revenue and lower risk. It is a huge insurer for personal lines (#1 homeowners insurer in CA). As a mutual company (not a publicly traded stock) it doesn’t have as many ways to raise capital as other insurers.

My auto and home are with State Farm, so I’ve been paying attention to its situation.

[craigster59]

My buddy who sells real estate (and will be listing my home soon) called me yesterday to see how we were doing after the fires.

He told me that insurance companies have put a moratorium on writing NEW policies in Santa Clarita and local communities and also other areas affected by the wildfires. Those with existing policies cannot be canceled.

He said that many deals are falling out of escrow due to the inability to obtain policies on the transactions. I asked when he thought policies would be available again and he said when the fires have 90% containment they will start looking at offering policies again.

[speeder]

You can’t really blame insurance companies from not wanting to write policies on properties that are in the path of a fire that is currently burning. 🔥

[jyl]

Originally Posted by speeder

You can’t really blame insurance companies from not wanting to write policies on properties that are in the path of a fire that is currently burning. 🔥

This. Escrows can be extended.

[MBAtarga]

Looked this up:
Overall, State Farm faced a pre-tax operating loss of $8.5 billion for 2023, similar to the $8.3 billion loss in 2022, with total revenue reaching $104.2 billion, up from $89.3 billion in 2022.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by speeder

You can’t really blame insurance companies from not wanting to write policies on properties that are in the path of a fire that is currently burning. 🔥

[jyl]

Here is an (unlocked) WSJ article about the rebuilding of the Palisades and who is leading the effort and who is trying to lead. I don’t know enough about Los Angeles politics to appreciate the details, but some of you will. What I’m taking away is that both the mayor and the governor are both-feet-in to getting the Palisades rebuilt more or less as it was. Maybe with a little bit of multifamily housing, maybe not, but only a little bit.

I wonder what is going on for Altadena. It doesn’t have the same political pull as Palisades, but I imagine it’s rebuilding will get support - the mayor probably needs it to happen.

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/a-shadow-power-broker-is-swooping-in-to-rebuild-the-pacific-palisades-7fed5c42?st=mvgDBP&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink

[speeder]

Before I even opened the link, I was thinking that no one is going to out-shadow-power-broker Rick Caruso. Especially in the Palisades.

[Noah930]

Now it's raining. Has been since yesterday evening. Not heavily though, so hopefully not too much of a mudslide risk. But bodes well for any other fires remaining.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Lots of question posed to officials.

"My house is the only one left on the block, how do I get to protect it?"
"Why can't private and Army Corp of Engr's. work at same time for lot demo"
"Who had explosives in their home to cause the search delays for ACE?"
"Why will it take 18 months?"
"How can I get my car towed from my home, my keys burned up?"
"Why $175K average for private clean up?"

[speeder]

I saw some of the carnage of the Altadena fire last night. It was dark with no street lights working and utterly depressing, it rained all day yesterday so it was just a dreary scene. Completely deserted except for cops rolling around and Humvees parked at road blocked corners. All of the buildings were destroyed and collapsed, it honestly looked like WW2 from movies and photos.

[jyl]

A friend posted video of his house and neighborhood in Altadena. Yup, looked like aftermath of aerial firebombing - think Cologne, Tokyo. Nothing left but chimneys and blackened remains of trees, smell like doused campfire (he reports). I am still amazed not more people died.

[stevej37]

Not sure if this is staged.

[Tobra]

If they plan to ignore affordable housing and building permit requirements for these people to build, will people in other parts of the state receive the same courtesy?

I ask, because thus far, they have not.

[jyl]

Maybe there is a little bit of a difference in the situation.

[daepp]

I watched an interview with actor Steve Gutenberg and how he helped his neighbors during the Palisades fire. And while expressing appropriate sympathy and concern for those who are suffering, they briefly mentioned that some lost car collections as well. And then they cut to some B roll and flashed the image of the car below. Now I’m no expert, but my spidey senses says 300SL Roadster.
If so, another loss for someone. Doesn’t compare to lives lost and homes destroyed, but a loss nonetheless.

[kevin993]

I'll go with 190SL instead of 300SL. Terrible either way.

[Baz]

Residents are being allowed back now.......I truly hope this provides a degree of closure for these folks......