A growing number of Nevada homeowners are learning their biggest threat isn't just wildfire — it's losing the insurance meant to protect them from it. 

As extreme weather intensifies, major insurers are canceling policies in high-risk areas, leaving residents scrambling for coverage and peace of mind.

What's happening?

According to KUNR, nearly 1,500 policies have been dropped in the state of Nevada, leaving residents scrambling to find protection — often at much higher rates or with limited coverage.

Carson City resident Stephen Weil was one of them. After flames tore across a nearby hillside last summer, he received a non-renewal letter from Farmers Insurance stating the company was "no longer willing to continue to insure" his home. 

Weil, who lives off Social Security and savings, described the experience as "extremely nerve-racking," and said that becoming uninsured was never an option.

Weil ultimately found new coverage after months of searching, but many homeowners haven't been as lucky. 

Some of the nation's largest insurers have stopped writing new policies in Nevada altogether, echoing trends in California, Florida, and other disaster-prone states.

Why is insurance important?

As wildfires intensify across the western U.S., fueled by hotter, drier conditions linked to the burning of dirty energy sources, insurance companies are reassessing risk in entire regions. 

The result: families are losing financial protection against disasters at the very moment these risks are becoming more frequent and severe.

Without coverage, homeowners can't rebuild if their homes are damaged or destroyed — and entire communities risk economic collapse when lenders refuse mortgages on uninsured properties.

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The pattern is part of a larger feedback loop. 

Dirty energy pollution drives the overheating of the planet, which leads to worsening wildfires and floods. 

Those disasters drive insurers out of markets, leaving homeowners vulnerable and forcing governments to step in.

What's being done about it?

Nevada lawmakers are trying to slow the fallout. 

While California has introduced a state-run insurance option of last resort, Nevada is taking a different approach: allowing insurers to test new wildfire-specific policies and rate changes through 2030. 

Supporters say the measure could keep private insurers from abandoning the state, but critics warn it reduces oversight and transparency for consumers.

Experts and advocacy groups are urging policymakers to invest in fire prevention and home-hardening measures, such as fire-resistant roofs and defensible landscaping, while expanding access to federal grants that help homeowners prepare for extreme weather.

Meanwhile, organizations like the Rebuild Paradise Foundation are helping communities understand the connection between extreme weather, insurance loss, and dirty energy dependence — and offering ways to build resilience before the next fire season hits.

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