Homebuyers get burned on insurance
Okanagan homebuyers learn hard way insurance companies won’t sell policies for properties threatened by wildfires
Some Okanagan homebuyers may find insurance hard to obtain with fires raging all around them.
Many insurance companies do not sell home insurance policies for customers living within a certain range of the threat, such as a wildfire or a flood, said Aaron Sutherland, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
“Insurance is there for unexpected events,” he said. “If a wildfire is happening in and around your community, if you’re under evacuation alert, or if there’s a wildfire in the vicinity of your home, that’s no longer an unforeseen event; that is a very real and a very notable risk.”
While it is up to each insurance company, many choose not to sell policies to people within a certain radius of an active wildfire, often within 25 kilometres, said Sutherland.
If a company does sell home insurance to people in an active wildfire zone, it will likely be more expensive, he said.
“These events are an important reminder of the importance of insurance to protect yourself financially from risk year-round.”
Sutherland emphasized home insurance renewals are not affected.
“If you have a policy come up for renewal while you’re under evacuation alert or if there’s a fire in the immediate proximity, that’s typically not affected,” he said. “They’re not going to drop you.”
Calgary resident Sandy MacLeod ran into trouble buying insurance when he finalized his purchase of a Peachland condo this week.
“I was looking for contents insurance, but they could not issue me a policy at this time because of the fires,” he said. “They gave me a quote for the insurance . . . and they will get back to me when the fire is over.”
While his condo building has insurance, it does not cover personal belongings or improvements made to the unit.
MacLeod does not take possession of his condo until the end of August, and he said he hopes he is able to buy an insurance policy by then.
“There have been $20,000 or $30,000 worth of improvements to the condo that I bought,” he said. “If it were lost in a fire, I’d be out $20,000 or $30,000.”
For buyers purchasing a singlefamily home, there is typically an insurance clause, making the sale subject to being able to purchase insurance, said Sutherland.
“It’s really important to have that in there, because if the transaction does occur while a wildfire is in the proximity, that gives the buyer protection,” he said. “They are able to perhaps move out the closing period of that sale until they are able to obtain insurance.”
While it may delay the transaction, it should not affect a buyer’s ability to purchase a home, as long as the insurance clause is in the contract, he said.
With hot, dry weather in the forecast for the Okanagan, smoky skies are expected to stick around for a few days.
“What we do know is the majority of the smoke in the atmosphere today is not from the fires we are managing within the Okanagan complex,” Glen Burgess, incident commander of the Okanagan complex for the BC Wildfire Service, said Thursday. “It is drifting in from outside the area.”
Environment Canada issued an air-quality advisory for the Okanagan, warning about the dangers of exposure to smoke for people with pre-existing health conditions, seniors and children.
Three fires burning in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park near Kelowna are still considered out of control, but they are being managed in a way that any growth is away from homes and properties on the outskirts of the park, said Burgess.
“The fires in the park . . . don’t have the fuels to sustain the burning that would cause us any problems at this point,” he said. “The hot, dry conditions . . . tend to be quite stable with winds, so we’re not going to see those erratic, volatile winds that lead to aggressive fire behaviour.”
As for the other fires burning in the Valley, crews don’t expect any further growth.
“They’re at the point we’re feeling quite comfortable,” said Burgess. “We’ve made some exceptional progress, and that’s due mostly to the work of the firefighters themselves and our local partners.”
More than 300 personnel, including firefighters and support people, are staying at a camp on Carrington Road in West Kelowna.
“The camp is here and running until we really start to compress the . . . needed resources,” said Burgess. “The camp’s going to be here for at least the next short while.”
The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre has been deactivated, and all evacuation alerts for nearby fires have been rescinded.
A campfire ban was put in place Thursday at noon.
The Mount Eneas fire, located four kilometres south of Peachland, is estimated at 1,793 hectares.
The Goode’s Creek fire, located in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park, is estimated at 577 hectares.
The Glenfir Road fire, 10 kilometres northwest of Naramata, is estimated at 32 hectares.
The Law Creek fire, located six kilometres southwest of West Kelowna, is estimated at 16 hectares.
The Mount Conkle fire, located eight kilometres southwest of Summerland, is estimated at 118 hectares.