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Premiums with no nearby fire
A wildfire-related premium can move without a nearby fire. ORS 742.277 triggers on cancellation, nonrenewal, or a premium increase that is materially related to wildfire risk, not on whether a named fire reached the lot. The notice must be property-specific. If the company used a wildfire risk score, it must show the range and your place in it. California’s score letter is 10 CCR 2644.9, a different rule. This site does not quote a reinsurance percent.
You are holding a renewal that jumped, and a map with no burn scar inside 100 miles. Those two facts can both be true. The statute talks about wildfire risk, scores, and mitigation, not last year’s fire perimeter.
This is an insurance satellite of /insurance/. It is not a second hub. No g3-passed exhibit matches this object. The scene is the renewal and the empty map. Do not use a house-level hub graphic as a policy form.
Why it matters
People treat “no fire nearby” as a billing error. Oregon’s notice statute assumes the company can still move the premium for wildfire risk. The remedy in the statute is a notice you can read, and mitigation the company must name, not a guarantee the number goes back down. Firewise and IBHS appear in the statute as examples of mitigation actions. They are still not adopted code.
How the documents split
| Object | What it does | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| ORS 742.277 | Property-specific notice when a wildfire-risk decision cancels, nonrenews, or raises premium | A nearby-fire test |
| Wildfire risk score (Oregon notice) | Range, relative position, plain-language variables, mitigation impact | A CAL FIRE FHSZ map |
| SB 82 / SB 83 (as DFR summarizes) | SB 82 barred using the state hazard map for rating. SB 83 repealed the map. Proprietary models remain. | Proof the bill is illegal |
| 10 CCR 2644.9 | California score, appeal, and credit rule | ORS 742.277 |
| FHSZ map | California construction overlay | An Oregon premium notice |
The paths
1. Read the Oregon notice. If the increase, cancellation, or nonrenewal is materially related to wildfire risk, the company must describe the property-specific characteristics that drove it. A generic “wildfire season” paragraph is not that sentence.
2. Read the score block, if any. If scores or classifications were used, the notice must say, in plain language, how they are determined, the range of possible scores, this property’s relative position, and any impact mitigation could have on the score.
3. Read the homework. The notice must list wildfire risk mitigation actions you could take to improve insurability, if any exist. On a premium increase, it must also list actions that would produce a discount, incentive, or other premium adjustment and the amount of that potential adjustment. The statute’s examples include defensible space, hardening, IBHS Wildfire Prepared, and Firewise USA Site in Good Standing. How you prove those is mitigation documentation.
4. Do not blame the repealed state map. DFR says SB 82 barred using Oregon’s wildfire hazard map for rating and underwriting. SB 83 repealed the map. DFR also says that repeal does not stop insurers from using their own proprietary models. A model is not a nearby fire.
5. California is a different letter. 10 CCR 2644.9 is score delivery and appeal for wildfire-rating insurers. Credits are Safer from Wildfires factors. Do not paste Oregon’s notice statute onto a California declarations page, or the reverse.
What people mix up
- Treating “no fire within 100 miles” as a legal bar on a wildfire-related increase.
- Treating the repealed state hazard map as the company’s model.
- Treating a Firewise plaque as an automatic Oregon discount. The notice must state whether a discount exists and in what amount.
- Treating this as California 2644.9.
- Quoting a reinsurance blog percent as the reason. This page does not.
How to check
- Open the notice. Find the property-specific wildfire-risk characteristics.
- If a score is printed, write down the range and your position.
- Write down every mitigation action and every dollar amount the notice attaches to it. If the increase notice names no amount, the statute required one.
- Confirm standing for Firewise or IBHS the way those programs actually work. A roadside sign is not the file.
- If the policy is California, stop and read 10 CCR 2644.9 instead.
Limits
This page does not set a premium. It does not decode a proprietary catastrophe model. It does not quote reinsurance. FireApproved is not DFR and not CDI. If the notice is missing the statutory pieces, DFR’s consumer line is 888-877-4894.
Related records
Questions
Can the premium rise if no fire burned within 100 miles?
Yes. ORS 742.277 applies when a cancellation, nonrenewal, or premium increase is materially related to wildfire risk, not when a named fire reached the lot. The notice must describe property-specific wildfire-risk characteristics. If the insurer used a wildfire risk score, it must explain the range, your position, and how scores are determined.
What does the Oregon notice have to tell me I can do?
The statute requires wildfire risk mitigation actions you could undertake to improve insurability, if there are any. For a premium increase, it must also describe actions that would result in a discount, incentive, or other premium adjustment, and the amount of that potential adjustment. Mitigation in the statute includes defensible space, hardening, IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home, and Firewise USA Site in Good Standing.
Did the state wildfire hazard map cause this?
DFR’s wildfire page says SB 82 prohibited insurers from using the state wildfire hazard map to cancel, nonrenew, or increase premiums. SB 83 later repealed that map. ORS 742.277 still requires a notice when the company’s own wildfire-risk decision moves the bill. Proprietary models are not that repealed map.
Is this the same as California’s wildfire risk score letter?
No. 10 CCR 2644.9 is California’s score-and-appeal rule for wildfire-rating insurers. Oregon’s notice statute is ORS 742.277. Do not paste one onto the other.