Wildfire victims not receiving help from FAIR Plan: 'I’ll have to fight with them for the next three years'

Total insured losses from the Southern California wildfires earlier this year are estimated to be as high as $45 billion.

People in the Pacific Palisades are frustrated, as they try to recover physically and mentally from January’s devastating wildfires.

That’s especially true for some families forced onto the California FAIR Plan as a last resort after their original providers dropped them. 

And even with the more limited policy, some say they’re still not getting the help they need. 

"I call them every single day, and sometimes you get through, sometimes you don’t. I think I went 45 days just going to voicemail every time," said Pacific Palisades homeowner James Borow.

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This is the reality for some homeowners with the FAIR Plan.

"They’ve sent me checks that have been lost in the mail. They’ve sent wires that don’t actually go through," said Borow.

State Farm dropped James Borow’s homeowners insurance in December. A month later, on January 7, the Palisades Fire burned his home to the ground.

And even though he filed claims immediately, the results still haven’t changed. 

"Ninety days later, still fighting with them…I’ve now come to the conclusion that I’ll have to fight with them for the next three years," said Borow. 

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Insurance industry groups say there has been a growing need for the FAIR Plan over the years as fewer insurers write or renew policies. But, the FAIR Plan can’t afford to pay everybody’s claims. 

"As we have seen recently with the Los Angeles wildfires, there has actually been a shortfall for the FAIR Plan that has resulted in a billion-dollar assessment that the private insurance companies are now having to help cover to ensure that the claims from the FAIR Plan are able to be paid," said American Property Casualty Insurance Association Vice President Karen Collins.

And it’s not just people who have lost their homes who are struggling to get help.

"In our family, there’s five Palisadians, four houses were lost, and our house is still standing, but we’re in a difficult situation as well," said Pacific Palisades homeowner Andy Sands. 

While Andy Sands’ home is still standing, he says he’s also getting the runaround. 

"Soot, ash, God knows what else, but it permeated not just the doors and windows, but into the house. And so the house smells terrible. It’s completely toxic. You can’t go in there without a mask on," said Sands.

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State Farm dropped Sands’ coverage last year too, forcing him onto the FAIR Plan.

His home suffered smoke damage in the fires, but FAIR Plan agents told him they would not be covering smoke damage.

"They offered us $2800 for hydroxyl, which is to get rid of the smoke smell in the house… even then we are still responsible for our $10,000 deductible," said Sands.

After being bounced around by multiple FAIR Plan agents, Sands resorted to hiring his own insurance adjuster.

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"We have a huge wildfire that has devastated the whole community, and they want you to just clean, not paint, not seal, not anything else? Just clean. That’s absolutely ridiculous and cannot be done. So unsafe," said The Goodroad Group public adjuster Ryan Knuth. 

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Knuth also says the FAIR Plan is only helping with two months of rent at a time, and currently, won’t cover testing to see if chemicals may still be present in these homes.

Fox reached out to FAIR Plan representatives, but they said they’re unable to comment at this time.