wildfire risk in carmel valley

[newdad]

So I am looking at the wildfire risk map here : http://www.readysandiego.org/wildfire-hazard-map/

It seems that a lot / most of carmel valley is in a high risk area. Am wondering what that means practically to those who live here? (I am considering buying). Is it more of a routine-for-San Diego thing like termites and earthquakes or is it a real concern?

Does home insurance typically include/exclude wildfire as part of the natural perils clause?

Thanks.

[svelte]

You’d be hard pressed to find an area of SD that didn’t have wildfire risk – there are open space canyon walls from top to bottom of this county. that’s what makes SD feel more open than places that are totally flat allowing for all open space to be built upon (read: LA).

In a prior house we called a well known insurance for a quote while we were in escrow. The company wanted to know if the house was within [can’t remember distance…a mile?] of an open field. I said yes, virtually every house in SD county is! They refused to give me a quote. So yes, policies include wildfire coverage.

[zk]

As far as whether it’s a real concern…it would be pretty far down my list of factors when deciding where to buy. In fact, I think it would be a negligible factor. But maybe that’s just me.

We moved to Carmel Valley in 2002, and have never really felt threatened (we’ve lived in a few different areas of CV). We did have to evacuate in 2007 (I think it was), but it seemed kind of ridiculous, given where the fire was and what was between the fire and our house (that being a bunch of fairly new neighborhoods with not much vegetation).

We’re right on a canyon, but the canyon is more or less south of us, and it’s pretty rare that a south wind is blowing during a fire event. Nevertheless, a few insurance companies did decline to cover our house. We ended up with State Farm, and we don’t seem to pay any more for homeowner’s insurance than the next guy.

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