Is fire insurable?

The focus of this chapter is on the extant data on the prevalence, causes, and depth of inadequate, unavailable, and/or unaffordable dwelling insurance for fire, and what might be done about it. Whether it is ‘bushfire’ in Australia or ‘wildfire’ in the United States, the frequency, intensity, and cost of fire is increasing, with no reason to expect the upward trend to dissipate any time soon. Most homeowners want to insure their homes for fire and think they both have done so and done so adequately. More often than not, they are wrong. And many are finding that insurance now is becoming unaffordable if available at all. Which all frames the question, as climate change continues, is fire insurable? This chapter considers the state of the relationship between fire and insurance, specifically insurance of homes, seeking to describe both the present and the possible future of the insurability of fire