The wind swirled black clouds of dust over burnt, twisted branches on the north side of Peavine Mountain. Among these hills, once covered in sagebrush, is where Rick Arrate called home for 20 years. He lost his house in the blaze.
“It’s barren, desolate. It looks like my house was bombed,” Arrate said.
Now, Arrate has to pay out of pocket to rebuild. He’s relying on his savings, GoFundMe, and government assistance like FEMA, because he said he couldn’t get home insurance.
“I tried to get insurance a few times. I don't care if I had a billion dollars, no one wanted to talk about insuring my property. It was just too remote,” Aerate said.
There’s no law in Nevada that requires insurance companies to issue policies to homeowners.
According to the disaster recovery company Bright Harbor, 13 out of the 59 people who self-reported damage from the Hawk Fire say they have no home insurance.
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Ned Gaines said Nevada is not an overly risky state to insure.
“I don’t see our risk as any higher today than it was pre-fires,” Gaines said. “We’re having a lot of conversations with the insurance industry and the insurance modelers that they rely on. How are you rating sagebrush compared to a conifer? We’re really trying to educate them on the uniqueness of the Nevada market, and we are, and remain, relatively low risk.”
Gaines said fires are put out quickly in the state, and the number of homes destroyed in Nevada, never surpassing double digits, is low compared to the hundreds destroyed by the Spokane fires this summer.
But Caughlin Ranch resident Beth Smith knows firsthand what it means to live in a high-risk area when trying to get insurance coverage.
Last month, she got a notice that Acuity would no longer insure her home. She’d been with the company for two years. The small carrier decided last year to leave the Nevada market due to profit losses, the Nevada Division of Insurance confirmed to KUNR. Smith was one of nearly 2,000 Nevadans forced to find new coverage.
And it’s been difficult. Her broker told her that, so far, two companies refused to even give her a quote due to wildfire risk.
“I was incredibly disappointed and totally shocked that other companies won’t even quote us. You have to have homeowners insurance as a function of your mortgage, and if no one is legally required to insure you, how do you meet that requirement?” Smith questioned.
She worries for others who may have a harder time navigating the insurance market.
“A lot of people are not in my situation. English is my first language. I have an independent broker that's working really hard for me,” Smith said. “I have the discretionary time in order to chase this down. What’s going to happen with all of our neighbors in the North Valleys?”
More than 2,700 policies were canceled or not renewed due to wildfire risk in 2024, according to the Nevada Division of Insurance, which is the most the state has seen. Incline Village and the area near the Ruby Mountains were among the hardest hit.
Gains said new data from 2025 will be published this fall, and that number is expected to be lower. He said if the market were at its worst, people would have to shop 10 to 15 insurance companies before finding coverage.
The recent fires are also turning residents’ attention to the new state law. It allows insurers to remove wildfire coverage from homeowners policies.
But Gains said so far, none have.
“We would scrutinize it very closely. It’s not an idea that any of them have really picked up on because they do see the repercussions that could come from it, and they do want people to have coverage,” Gaines said. “Also, if you’re the first one that does it, it could hurt your market share. They’re in the business to sell policies.”
Only one application has been approved under the state law by insurance company Chubb. It allows homeowners to select a separate wildfire deductible.
Gaines said regulators are also reviewing applications from companies that do not currently operate in Nevada and want to offer standalone wildfire policies. If those policies enter the market, Gaines said Nevada could start to see companies carve wildfire coverage out of traditional home insurance policies.
That’s a bad trend, said Michael DeLong, research and advocacy associate with the Consumer Federation of America.
“You could be having to pay two premiums: one for a standard homeowners insurance policy that would protect you against theft, fallen trees, and hailstorms, and other things like that, and another premium for a wildfire policy. It depends a lot on the specifics,” DeLong said.
Back on Peavine Mountain, Arrate said that, with or without insurance, he still plans to rebuild.
“I will rebuild on Peavine. I don’t care if I’m in a shipping container, a Tuff Shed, or whatever. I will build something to live up here on Peavine and be okay. I’m positive. I’ve just spent a lot of my life up here on Peavine Mountain. I walk this mountain every day. That’s how I became the man I am today,” Arrate said.
If you have any concerns you’re being mistreated while trying to access homeowners insurance, the Nevada Division of Insurance encourages residents to reach out. Also, beware of scams, and document damage only when it is safe to do so.
