Right after the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley fires in 2015 I got a renewal notice on my fire insurance. It seems my policy was nearing the time for reconsideration.

A phone call to my agent to find out the new cost brought sad news that the company would not be renewing insurance in my area.

How could that be, it’s the same area that it’s always been and I keep the vegetation back from the house?

Surely I said, “You mean the premium is going up don’t you?”

“No,” the answer came back, “the company is pulling out of Lake County as a high risk.”

Because I was too busy to do much in the way of looking for insurance I found an agent that said I would not be refused through a state pool called the California Fair Plan.

This was insurance at considerably more money and insured just the basic house. I had to buy an additional plan for the content, outbuildings and machinery. Wow, the cost for living in the country just went up. In addition, we were in a fire condition exacerbated by drought, fire prone vegetation, dead trees and an extended fire season from low humidity.

In response to these fire conditions that bring a new normal risk to houses sitting in the wildland interface, many plans for fire hardening houses, clearing vegetation and making advanced plans are starting to emerge.

There were many earlier fire events, but the pivotal event that began a movement toward rules requiring defensible space around your house in wildland interface areas and a new approach to insurance finders was the Oakland Hills Fire of 1991.

The Oakland Hills fire, officially known as the Tunnel fire, killed 25 people and burned 1,520 acres, 2,843 single family homes and 437 multifamily buildings.

I toured this fire site the week after with the California Board of Forestry as an adjunct wildlife consultant advising for good wildlife policy. But, I didn’t have much to say except hot fires were not good.

The interesting facts that came out of the tour were fires had burned through the area three times earlier in the century – 1923, 1970 and 1980 – all in the autumn of the year during dry conditions and high winds.

No wonder insurance companies were rethinking their approach to what was good risk and what was not. Change was needed if the hills were to be rebuilt

The biggest wildland interface policy change developed by the Board of Forestry in 1991 was to restrict wooden roofs and require the 30-foot area around the house to have low flammability vegetation.

The insurance industry also started to look at spreading risk and increasing the opportunity to influence the outcomes through science by testing particular building choices.

Over the years protection parameters have upgraded to become more sophisticated and now you can improve your defense by looking at the Cal Fire Web site at www.readyforwildfire.org.

As you make your home safer you probably want to find the best value insurance for your situation. After all, every community deserves the opportunity to thrive and of course, insured and protected homes are essential to community vitality.

Right after the Oakland Hills fire an effort was made to gather insurance agents’ contact information through a public benefit corporation called Yapacopia. They operate the Cal Insurance Finder, a free Web site at www.uphelp.org/matchup .

The homeowner works directly with independent brokers that look for insurance companies who will insure their situation and need. You can also call their toll-free number 877-469-0977. This starts a pathway to home insurance with an expert.

Many programs for lowering fire risk will be coming up over the next few years and it will be prudent to check your risk situation every year, just like smoke alarm batteries.

The new normal will be working toward lowering your risk in a high risk area and looking for an insurance agent with a company that agrees with the odds.

The fire record of Lake County – which has recorded 103 fires in 50 years – is not lost on the insurance industry, but it’s what you do to and around your house that will count.

Jim Steele is District 3 supervisor for Lake County, Calif. He also chairs the Lake County Board of Supervisors for 2018.