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Coloradans overwhelmingly consider wildfire mitigation an important personal responsibility of homeowners who live in high risk wildfire areas, and the majority of Coloradans feel there should be insurance consequences for those who refuse to take steps to protect their property from the threat of wildfire. A January 2015 statewide independent poll commissioned by the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association found that 96 percent of Coloradans said it is "very important" or "pretty important" for homeowners to undertake fire mitigation efforts.
As to whether insurance companies should be required to insure or renew policies of homeowners who refuse to take wildfire mitigation steps, 65 percent of Colorado respondents said insurance companies should not be forced to continue insuring homeowners who refused to do mitigation, while 55 percent agreed that insurance companies should not be required to sell them insurance.
In recent years, Colorado has seen a number of destructive wildfires breakout throughout the state, which in many cases have destroyed or damaged homes and other property. Fire mitigation steps like clearing brush and trees from a perimeter around homes, or replacing wood shake roofs with tile or asphalt shingles can help reduce the risk to property. If homeowners choose to live in high risk wildfire areas, how important do you feel it is for them to undertake fire mitigation efforts? Would you say it is very important, pretty important, not too important or not at all important?
| • Very important |
82% |
| • Pretty important |
14% |
| • Not too important |
2% |
| • Not at all important |
1% |
| • DK/NS |
2% |
Some homeowners who live in wildfire-prone areas of Colorado refuse to take certain preventative mitigation steps to protect and minimize the chance that their homes or property will be destroyed by wildfires. Do you feel insurance companies should be required to insure those homeowners who refuse to do fire mitigation to protect their property?
| • Yes, should require companies to provide insurance |
34% |
| • No, companies should not be required to provide insurance |
55% |
| • DK/NS |
11% |
Some insurance companies are now requiring their homeowners who live in wildfire prone areas to be responsible for taking steps to protect their property, like creating an area around their home free from ground cover and trees and replacing wood shake roofs with less flammable materials. However, some homeowners have refused to do the required mitigation. Do you feel insurance companies should be required to renew policies of people who refuse to do fire mitigation for their property?
| • Yes, companies should be required to renew policies |
26% |
| • No, companies should NOT be required to renew policies |
65% |
| • DK/NS |
9% |
Methodology
The 2015 Colorado Statewide OmniPoll was conducted by Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy, Inc., a public opinion and market research firm in Boulder, Colorado. The results of this survey are based on 512 random telephone interviews with Colorado voters, conducted from January 6 to 13, 2015. Quotas were established to obtain equal representation for men and women, and an appropriate representation from among certain counties (quotas established for Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo). A random sample of 512 has a worst-case 95% confidence interval of plus or minus 4.3% about any one reported percentage.
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