How hard is it to insure a home in Amador County?

Statewide, the FAIR Plan covered 3.2% of insured homes in 2022. In Amador County's ZIP codes, it covered 25.1%, Department of Insurance figures show.

Pioneer's 95666 led the county at 52.3%, ahead of Pine Grove at 46.2% and Volcano at 39.9%. Ione's share was 1.6%.

By the FAIR Plan's own quarterly count, Amador County's ten ZIP codes held 5,992 of its residential policies on September 30, 2026.

Amador County's count is up 52% from 3,944 on September 30, 2022, and nearly level with the 6,017 of a year earlier.

Of the 5,992 Amador County policies on September 30, 2026, the FAIR Plan put 85% in its own High wildfire tier. The same September 30, 2026 file put all ten Amador County ZIP codes under a distressed-area flag, a flag the FAIR Plan carries.

In Amador County's ten ZIP codes, second or seasonal homes make up 8.8% of housing units, against 2.4% statewide, Census Bureau estimates for 2020 to 2024 show. Pioneer's share is 22.9%.

Most of its homes, in an older estimate. A Department of Insurance table from 2016 rated 59.3% of Amador County's dwelling units as high or very high wildfire risk.

That share is a weighted average of catastrophe modelers' scores on units counted as of January 1, 2015. It ranked ninth of California's 58 counties, against 12.1% statewide. El Dorado County, next door, scored 57.1%.

Amador County's planning department says all unincorporated land in the county falls in one of CAL FIRE's three fire hazard zones: Moderate, High or Very High. You can look up a home's zone by address.

Those zones guide building standards, real estate disclosures and the 100-foot clearance rule, the county page says. The Department of Insurance's April 4, 2025 alert says insurers use wildfire risk models to choose homes and set prices, "not the Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps."

El Dorado and Alpine counties made the state's 2026 list of Fire Risk Reduction Communities, good until July 1, 2028, but no Amador County agency did. The Board of Forestry opens its next application period on July 1, 2027.

The Caldor Fire started on August 14, 2021, east of Omo Ranch and south of Grizzly Flats, and CAL FIRE lists Amador among its three counties.

In all, it burned 221,835 acres and destroyed 1,005 structures, CAL FIRE's incident page shows, last updated February 16, 2023.

During the Caldor Fire, Bulletin 2021-06 barred non-renewals for wildfire risk in Fiddletown, Pine Grove, Pioneer, Plymouth and Volcano from August 17, 2021, through August 30, 2022. Pioneer was also under the Tamarack Fire's moratorium, from July 23, 2021.

The Butte Fire started east of Jackson on September 9, 2015, and burned 70,868 acres. CAL FIRE's 2021 list of California's most destructive wildfires places it in Amador and Calaveras counties.

CAL FIRE's own page for the Butte Fire, last updated October 24, 2022, counts 965 structures destroyed across the whole fire. The 2021 list gave 921.

Yes, for wildfire risk. Bulletin 2026-6 bars non-renewals for wildfire risk in Ione's 95640 and Jackson's 95642 for one year, starting on August 6, 2026, during the Gann Fire.

The Governor declared the Gann Fire emergency for Calaveras County on August 6, 2026, and the Department of Insurance issued the bulletin on August 14, 2026.

Insurers must also offer to take back any wildfire-risk notice sent on or after August 6, 2026, and offer to reinstate or renew the policy. How a California moratorium works covers what it stops and what it does not.

Amador County's other eight ZIP codes are not on the bulletin's list.

There, and in Ione and Jackson for any reason but wildfire risk, the usual notice rule applies. A non-renewal notice, mailed or delivered, must come at least 75 days (90 days beginning January 1, 2028) before the policy ends. The 2028 notice rule explains the change.

Amador County requires every owner or occupant of an improved parcel outside the cities to clear fire hazards around buildings, all year. The rule reaches 100 feet out, or to the property line.

Ordinance 1871, adopted on March 10, 2026, rewrote the rule, County Code section 7.30.050. The heaviest work falls within 30 feet of a building.

Within 30 feet, dead plants, leaves and needles come out, and branches stay 10 feet from chimneys. Exposed firewood moves out of that zone unless it is "completely covered in a fire-resistant material."

Those 30-foot rules reach right up to the house. Within 5 feet, decks included, the county also recommends removing everything else that burns, such as mulch and woody plants. The FAIR Plan's discount sheet counts clearing burnable material within 5 feet of a home as one of its wildfire discounts.

The Board of Forestry's statewide rules for that 5-foot zone were still in final state review on October 29, 2026, its Zone 0 page says.

From 30 to 100 feet, grass is cut to 4 inches, loose litter stays no deeper than 3 inches, and trees and shrubs need spacing.

The 2026 version adds a "Good Neighbor" packet to help owners clear across a property line. No owner has to clear past their own line or let a neighbor in to clear.

In Amador County, as anywhere in California, standard insurers are the first call, specialty insurers the second, and the FAIR Plan the last.

Casa's questionnaire takes a second home too, with a few extra questions on how it is used, such as the months it stands empty.

On its own, a FAIR Plan policy on an Amador County home will not pay for a burglary, a visitor's injury or water from a burst pipe. If the FAIR Plan insures your home now, you can switch mid-term once a fuller policy starts.

Bring these to every quote:

• What the roof is made of, and the year it went on.
• When the electrical panel, plumbing and furnace were last replaced.
• Dated photos of your clearing in each zone, from 5 feet out to 100.
• A list of past claims, with dates and amounts paid.