The wildfires that plagued Washington for nearly half the summer put new Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and her office to a test.
Kuderer has been in office for over a year-and-a-half. However, she’s relatively new considering her predecessor, Washington Commissioner of Insurance Mike Kreidler, was the nation’s longest serving commissioner, having held the office since 2001.
The magnitude of what she and the Office of The Insurance Commissioner are dealing with is best stated in numbers: the blazes resulted in the most expensive fire damage in Washington history, and Spokane County Assessor Tom Konis puts rebuilding costs from three recent wildfires at more than $1 billion.
The industry is projecting $600 million in insured losses to date from wildfires in the state, with the bulk of that coming from residential losses at roughly $535 million, according to figures out from the OIC on Tuesday.
While those figures encompass all wildfires in the state, most of the expected losses are from the Spokane Complex Fire, which was comprised by the Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane fires that burned nearly 10,000 ac
res and destroyed some 900 structures. A recent analysis from property data provider Cotality identified 5,256 properties that sustained at least some damage, of which 96% were single-family residences. The damaged single-fa
mily homes carry a combined reconstruction cost value of $1.9 billion.
Kuderer recently returned from surveying the damage and speaking with stakeholders and residents impacted by the fires, including Spokane City officials, to find ways to speed up the recovery process, which she believes means speeding up claims processing with the aid of her office’s rapid response team members who have been deployed.
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What she and her office have heard about the claims paying process to this point has been largely positive. However, she said she would like to see more carriers helping claimants streamline the process by foregoing the requirement of providing full inventories on losses.
“I only know what I’m hearing on the ground and there have been more compliments than not,” Kuderer said. “But there have been some complaints, especially when it comes to personal property and some companies requiring the full inventory.”
According to her, some insurers have been more forgiving with inventory requirements, with one carrier voluntarily paying out 65% of their limit without the need of an inventory.