More than 64,000 California policyholders near the Gann Fire just got a mandatory guarantee that their home insurer can’t cancel or refuse to renew their coverage for a full year, after Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a moratorium covering five counties and 22 ZIP codes, according to a press release from the California Department of Insurance. The protection kicked in the same day Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency over the fire, August 6, 2026, and runs for one full year from that date.
“This moratorium offers tens of thousands of Californians a reprieve from the threat of losing their insurance coverage,” Lara said in the release, following the same pattern of post-wildfire protections his office has issued after other major fires. What’s different this time is who else is covered: for the first time, the moratorium extends to commercial policies for homeowners associations, apartment complexes and senior living facilities, under a newer state law, Senate Bill 547, that closed a gap where individual homeowners were shielded but shared or multifamily housing wasn’t.
Key Points
- 64,000+ policyholders protected from cancellation or non-renewal for one year
- Covers Calaveras, San Joaquin, Amador, Tuolumne and Stanislaus counties, plus 22 ZIP codes
- Moratorium runs one year from the August 6, 2026 emergency declaration
- First moratorium to include HOAs, apartment complexes and senior living facilities as well as individual homeowners
Who’s Covered
- Residential policyholders with homes inside the fire perimeter or in one of the 22 adjoining ZIP codes
- Homeowners associations and condo/co-op associations in the affected area
- Apartment complex owners
- Senior living facilities
What Homeowners Should Do
- Check whether your ZIP code is included at insurance.ca.gov.
- Know your rights: if you’re covered, your insurer legally cannot cancel or decline to renew your policy for wildfire risk during the moratorium period, even if it reassesses risk in your area.
- Report a suspected violation to the California Department of Insurance at 800-927-4357.
California’s underlying 2018 moratorium law has protected roughly 1.2 million homeowners statewide since it took effect, per the department, and 11 insurance groups have separately committed to staying or growing their presence in wildfire-prone parts of the state. For homeowners who’ve watched neighbors get non-renewal letters after nearby fires in past years, this is the rare piece of wildfire news that reads as actual relief rather than another warning. The protection doesn’t require homeowners to file any paperwork to activate it — it applies automatically to every eligible policy in the covered ZIP codes the moment the moratorium takes effect.
