Time to review fire insurance

The approaching anniversary of last fall's wildfires should serve as a reminder to homeowners to review their insurance policies.

Insurers, sensitive to criticism from homeowners who discovered after the fires that their policies did not cover all their fire damage, conducted a recent poll that showed 71% of Californians consider it their personal responsibility to keep their insurance current.

The poll, commissioned by the Insurance Information Network of California, also found that 19% said it was the responsibility of the insurance agent, and 7% said it was the the insurance company's responsibility.

In the survey of 800 Californians, 48% said they should update their policies often or very often. However, 56% had not done so in the last year.