Central Oregon homeowners facing skyrocketing insurance rates due to wildfire risks: report

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Wildfire preparation is getting tougher and pricier in central Oregon, as Farmers Insurance recently canceled policies for 200 homeowners near Sisters, forcing homeowners to pay sky-high premiums, according to a report. 

Karen Whisler, one of the homeowners with a canceled policy, told Central Oregon Daily her insurance policy went from $5,000 per year with a $500 deductible to $10,000 per year with a $10,000 deductible.

“It’s terrifying because if you can’t find insurance or you can’t afford your insurance, you know your mortgage company requires you to have insurance, so I started to think I could lose my house,” she said.

Insurers blame rising fire risks for pushing the costs even higher, with 2024 marking the state’s largest wildfire season since 2020.

The past season, which took off in July after an excessive heat wave and several lightning storms, sparked thousands of fires and burned more than 1.9 million acres across the state.

There were 1,003 fires on ODF-protected lands in 2024, as of Oct. 28. These fires led to 314,181 acres — or 491 square miles — of scorched land. The longest-running wildfire of the season was the Lone Rock Fire, which burned for more than two months.

“Extreme infernos” also hit Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Umatilla, Wasco, and Wheeler counties the hardest, destroying 42 homes and 132 other structures, injuring 26 civilians and fire responders, and killing an air tanker pilot.

Meanwhile, four fires in the eastern half of the state even grew into “megafires” in July. A megafire, according to the U.S. Interagency Fire Center, is a wildfire that reaches a size of at least 100,000 acres. The Durkee, Cow Valley, Falls, and Lone Rock fires each reached this status.

In late July, KOIN 6 News reported that the total number of acres burned at that point in the 2024 wildfire season surpassed the size of Rhode Island, with the Durkee Fire in Baker County at one point being the largest active wildfire in the U.S.