Washington insurance commissioner talks wildfire recovery, coverage for homeowners in Medical Lake townhall

Washington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer picked a fitting venue to share what she’s learned wading through the quagmire of home insurance in a wildfire-prone state.

Kuderer held a town hall at Medical Lake City Hall Wednesday to discuss wildfire resiliency and coverage woes as the town continues to recover from the effects of the 2023 Gray fire, which scorched more than 9,500 acres and 240 homes.

Medical Lake Mayor Terri Cooper and City Administrator Sonny Weathers spoke with Kuderer about the town’s efforts to rebuild, the challenges that have popped up along the way and how legislation could assist communities in similar situations before a panel of insurance and emergency preparedness experts answering the audience’s burning questions.

“I know in the world, we’re kind of sick and tired of complainers, but we love any questions about your insurance,” Kuderer said of her office. “We want to hear from you.”

Cooper said the town and its leaders at City Hall have learned a lot since the Gray fire: how to move forward and how the town and small rural communities like it can be better prepared to deal with wildfire damage.

For one, local governments need to be prepared to spend a lot right out of the gate. Medical Lake was fortunate to have contingency funds in place to help get the town and its residents on their feet, she said, spending around $500,000 in the first six months post fire.

“We think big disaster, big government, and that’s not true,” Cooper said. “What we found is that you have a big disaster, you’re rolling out supplies, you’re rolling out resources, you’re rolling out help. The minute that disaster happens, you’re spending money and you’re doing everything that you can to get a community together, getting the resources they need.”

Weathers recounted the mad scramble to protect the town as the fast moving fire approached. He was out to lunch when he spotted the smoke plume and made a hasty return to City Hall. He got up on the roof and could see the fire cresting the hill on the edge of town.

Weathers said he hopped in a truck and went down to the town’s namesake lake to help evacuate the surrounding park. Soon he saw crews begin wetting roadways and trees near Eastern State Hospital as the blaze “just came in so fast.” Washington State Patrol, regional firefighting crews and other first responders began filtering in to fight the blaze and enforce evacuation orders.

“It seems like time was standing still, but also moving incredibly fast at that point in time,” Weathers said. “… We felt like we were prepared for the worst, and we learned that we had no idea what the worst could look like.”

One of the lessons learned was the importance of relying on a local network, Cooper said. Local businesses, neighboring towns and other fellow Inland Northwest community members were the first to offer firefighting resources, supplies and shelter. It took more than six months for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to approve the affected homeowners’ disaster requests.

“It was really beautiful to see, and it was such comfort for us to know that when the worst thing that ever happened in this county happened, everybody came together,” Cooper said.

Many Medical Lake homeowners are still struggling with the cost of cleanup, insurance claims and finding complete, affordable coverage. Some are finding it hard to find coverage at all. Kuderer said 32% of people with significant damage from the Gray fire lost their insurance, and two -thirds were underinsured.

Across the ZIP-code, Medical Lake homeowners saw more policy cancellations and nonrenewals than the statewide average in 2024, the most recent data available. From 2022 to 2024, nonrenewals went up from 16 per 1,000 policies to 23, while cancellations rose from 3 per 1,000 to 16.

“It’s a real issue. It’s something that we are watching very closely,” Kuderer said.

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner has taken steps to try and make it easier for Washington homeowners to find fair insurance policies, Kuderer said. During the last legislative session, Kuderer, with support from Cooper, advocated for a pair of stalled bills she believes will be reconsidered by legislators.

One bill would have required insurance companies to disclose a property’s wildfire risk score, the reasoning behind it and what steps could be taken to improve it. The scores are used by insurance companies to determine a property’s risk of experiencing wildfire damage, factoring in vegetation, topography and climate change trends.

“Being able to know what the measuring stick is, is a critical piece,” Weathers said. “If I don’t know, how can I make meaningful improvements and mitigate that risk?”

Kuderer also advocated for starting a statewide grant program to retrofit existing homes to reduce the risk of wildfire damage, by funding projects like installing siding that’s fire resistant or double-pane windows. Other states have similar programs for natural disaster relief, but Kuderer said the policy would make Washington the first to prevent insurance companies from canceling a policy if a homeowner properly retrofits to industry standards.

“If you’re going to go to the trouble to retrofit your home to those standards, you should be able to breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not going to be nonrenewed or canceled for the risk of wildfire,” Kuderer said.

Cooper said the grant program could have made a world of difference for Medical Lake homeowners. They likely would have an easier time finding insurance nowadays, and before the fire it could have served as an educational opportunity for neighborhoods to learn about wildfire resiliency, she said.

Medical Lake homeowners continue to grapple with uncertainty, but Cooper is hopeful the lessons they’ve learned while recovering from the wildfire can make a difference for communities across the country facing similar threats.

“We’ve had some people say, ‘It sounds terrible, but, I’m glad, because it changed things,’ ” Cooper said. “Good can come from a bad situation.”