Does California homeowners insurance cover wildfire damage?

Fire, including wildfire, is a standard covered peril on most California homeowners policies. Availability has become the harder problem: some carriers have limited new business in higher-risk areas, and the California FAIR Plan exists as a shared-market option for property owners who cannot obtain coverage in the standard market.

Is smoke damage covered if my California home did not burn?

Smoke is generally a covered peril, but smoke claims frequently turn on documentation: establishing what was affected, to what degree, and what it was worth. Items that look undamaged can still be affected, which is why a pre-loss record of contents is useful for a claim of this kind.

Does my California policy cover earthquake damage too?

Standard homeowners policies exclude earthquake. Californians who want that protection typically buy it separately, often through the California Earthquake Authority or a private carrier. Contents coverage and deductibles under an earthquake policy differ from the homeowners policy, so both declarations pages are worth reading.

Know What You OwnBefore Wildfire Season.

California's wildfires are getting larger and faster. Insurers typically request documentation during the claims process. Preloss builds a video-based inventory now, so a record exists before you need one.

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The Problem

Most California homeowners are flying blind.

Los Angeles Wildfires (2025): The January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures across Pacific Palisades, Altadena and neighboring communities, according to CAL FIRE.

When a wildfire destroys your home, insurers want proof. Without documentation, you're left reconstructing your entire life from memory, and insurers dispute every item they can.

9,419

structures destroyed by the January 2025 Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County

Source: CAL FIRE

2 min

the time a fast-moving wildfire can give residents to evacuate

66%

of insured 2018 Camp Fire households surveyed said they lacked enough insurance to repair or rebuild their home

Source: United Policyholders

California Insurance Code § 10103.7 (SB 495, 2025): For a total loss of a furnished primary home in a declared state of emergency, Insurance Code section 10103.7 requires an insurer to offer a payment of at least 60% of the personal property limit, capped at $350,000, without an itemized claim. A policyholder may then file an itemized claim for the remainder up to the policy limit. SB 495 replaced the earlier rule, 30% of the dwelling limit capped at $250,000, starting in 2026.

Source: California Legislature, SB 495 (Ch. 542, 2025)

Figures above link to their source. Statutory summaries describe the text of the law and are general information, not legal advice. For your own coverage or a specific claim, consult a licensed professional or your state department of insurance.

How It Works

How to document your home for insurance, from inventory to claim.

Preloss covers the full lifecycle: creating a record of what you own, organizing evidence when something happens, and exporting everything in one structured packet.

Phase 1

Before: Document What You Own

Create a complete video-based inventory before anything happens. Most homeowners can document their entire home in under an hour.

Record a video walkthrough of each room: no tripod, no setup, just your phone
AI identifies items, brands, and models from your video frames automatically
Scan receipts and serial plates to attach purchase price and identity proof
Run a coverage gap analysis: compare your inventory value to your policy limits

Phase 2

During: When Something Happens

If disaster strikes, your inventory becomes your claim documentation. Mark what was affected and attach evidence.

Mark items as damaged, destroyed, or stolen in your existing inventory
Attach damage photos as visual evidence for each affected item
Your pre-loss timestamps are already Bitcoin-notarized, independently verifiable

Phase 3

After: Organize & Export

Export a structured claim packet. Everything organized, timestamped, and ready to share.

Generate a claim PDF with loss summary, item-by-item details, and evidence photos
Export a complete ZIP: inventory PDF, claim PDF, CSV, all photos, and verification proofs

Features

AI-powered home inventory app for insurance documentation.

From video walkthrough to claim-ready packet: everything you need to document your belongings, identify coverage gaps, and organize evidence in one app.

AI Video Walkthrough Inventory

Record each room with your phone. AI identifies furniture, electronics, appliances, and more from your video frames, no manual entry required.

Coverage Gap Analysis

Scan your insurance declaration page. See where your coverage limits compare to your inventory value, by category, including jewelry, electronics, and firearms.

Receipt & Serial Number Scanning

Photograph receipts and serial plates. OCR extracts purchase price, date, and serial number, attached to the corresponding item automatically.

High-Value Item Deep Scan

Record a short close-up video of expensive items. AI extracts make, model, serial number, condition, and a detailed value range.

Damage & Loss Documentation

When something happens, mark items as damaged, destroyed, or stolen. Attach damage photos directly to your inventory as visual evidence.

Bitcoin-Notarized Timestamps

Every walkthrough is cryptographically hashed and anchored in the Bitcoin blockchain: independently verifiable proof of when your evidence was created.

One-Tap Claim Packet Export

Export a single ZIP containing your inventory PDF, claim PDF, item CSV, all photos, checksums, and timestamp verification proofs.

Private by Default

Videos stay on your device. Only extracted frames are sent for analysis. Your data stays under your control.

Why Now

California's fire seasons keep breaking records.

The January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures, according to CAL FIRE. Under Insurance Code section 10103.7, an insurer must offer at least 60% of the personal property limit after a total loss in a declared emergency without an itemized claim, and the itemized claim covers the balance. Creating a record before fire season is one way homeowners can be prepared.

16,000+

structures destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, per CAL FIRE

Source: California Legislature, SB 495 (Ch. 542, 2025)General information about the text of the law, not legal advice.

What Makes Preloss Different

Built for insurance documentation from day one.

Video-first, not spreadsheet-first

Walk through a room in 60 seconds. AI does the itemization: no typing, no manual entries.

Bitcoin-notarized proof of creation

Every walkthrough is cryptographically hashed and anchored in the Bitcoin blockchain, tamper-proof and independently verifiable.

Full lifecycle: inventory through claim

One app for documenting, analyzing coverage gaps, marking damage, and exporting a complete evidence packet.

Structured exports, not just a PDF

Export a ZIP with inventory PDF, claim PDF, item CSV for system import, all photos, and verification metadata.

California

Documenting contents after a California wildfire

California has its own rules for contents claims after a declared disaster, its own fire insurance safety net, and a state department that takes consumer complaints. This section summarizes each one and what the law says, with a link to the source for every point. The rules below apply statewide.

What the Insurance Code says about contents after a total loss

Insurance Code section 10103.7(b) covers a total loss of a primary dwelling resulting from a declared state of emergency, where the home was furnished at the time. The insurer must offer a payment under the contents (personal property) coverage of no less than 60 percent of the personal property limit, up to $350,000, without requiring an itemized claim. The policyholder may then recover more, up to the contents limit, by filing an itemized claim for the loss above that payment. The insurer must tell the policyholder about both options, and may ask them to sign an attestation that the home was furnished and that its contents were worth at least the amount paid.

SB 495, signed in October 2025, set those figures. The earlier rule was 30 percent of the dwelling limit, capped at $250,000. The Department of Insurance notes that the laws in force on the date of a fire are the ones that apply to it.

For the itemized claim, section 2061(a) says the insurer cannot require its own inventory form if the policyholder provides one with substantially the same information, and must accept an inventory that groups categories of items, such as clothing, shoes, books, or food, where listing each item separately would be impractical.

Section 2051.5(b) sets the timing. After a loss tied to a state of emergency, an insurer cannot require proof of loss sooner than 100 days after the loss, and must grant further extensions for good cause. One cause the law lists is that a personal property inventory is premature if construction of the home has not yet started. The policyholder has no less than 36 months from the first actual cash value payment to collect the full replacement cost, subject to the policy limit.

The California Department of Insurance

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) regulates insurers doing business in the state. Its stated role includes reviewing rates, overseeing whether insurers can pay claims, licensing agents, brokers and adjusters, and resolving consumer complaints, and it reports investigating more than 56,000 complaints a year.

Policyholders can call its consumer hotline at 800-927-4357 with questions or file a complaint online. Its Wildfire Recovery and Readiness page collects resources for survivors. CDI also publishes an annual notice of the laws that apply to claims after a declared emergency, and an insurer must send a copy to a claimant within 15 calendar days of receiving notice of such a claim.

The California FAIR Plan

The California FAIR Plan (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) provides basic fire insurance for properties that traditional insurers will not cover. CDI describes it as a safety net for people who cannot find other coverage, controlled by a consortium of insurance companies.

Applications go through a licensed broker, who first searches the traditional market. Its dwelling policies cover owner- or tenant-occupied homes of up to four units, and personal property for renters and condo owners. Because its policies are built around basic fire coverage, the FAIR Plan points policyholders to a separate difference in conditions policy for other coverages, so a household can end up with two policies, each with its own declarations page and limits.

Recent California wildfires

CAL FIRE's incident records put the January 2025 Palisades Fire at 23,448 acres, with 6,845 structures destroyed and 12 civilian deaths, and the Eaton Fire, which started the same day, at 14,021 acres, with 9,419 structures destroyed and 19 civilian deaths. The 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County destroyed 18,804 structures and killed 85 people.

NOAA's billion-dollar disaster database puts the Western wildfires and California firestorms of 2018 at $30.0 billion and of 2017 at $23.2 billion, both CPI-adjusted to 2024 dollars.

When a home is destroyed, the itemized part of a contents claim has to be built from whatever survives elsewhere: photos, emails, and card and bank statements. A walkthrough recorded before the fire and stored away from the house gives that list a starting point.

Statutory summaries describe the text of the law and are general information, not legal or insurance advice. Which rules apply depends on the date of the loss and the policy. For your own coverage or a specific claim, consult a licensed professional or the California Department of Insurance.