Does the Dixie Fire still affect home insurance in Plumas County?

Of the FAIR Plan's Plumas County policies, the most are in 96137, a Lake Almanor ZIP code that also takes in Westwood: 1,066 on September 30, 2026. Across the 17 ZIP codes the FAIR Plan assigns to Plumas County, it held 4,008, up 88% from 2,136 on September 30, 2022. Plumas County's count rose 3% in the latest year, from 3,882 on September 30, 2025.

The FAIR Plan files a ZIP code that crosses a county line under one county. That is why 96137 counts in Plumas County's figures, though Westwood sits in Lassen County.

By the Plan's own measure, four in five of Plumas County's FAIR Plan policies, 80%, fall in its High wildfire tier, against 37% statewide.

On September 30, 2026, 16 of Plumas County's 17 ZIP codes were marked distressed, under a flag the FAIR Plan carries. The one without it is 95981.

The FAIR Plan's 2022 share of insured homes in Plumas County's ZIP codes was 16.1%, by the Department of Insurance's count. Statewide, the share was 3.2%.

In 2023 the Department counted 1,587 non-renewals among Plumas County policies outside the FAIR Plan, owners who moved or changed companies included. That is 14.5%, against 8.7% statewide, and the same count shows 546 new policies and 8,813 renewals.

The Dixie Fire started on July 13, 2021, above the Cresta Dam in the Feather River Canyon, and was contained on October 25, 2021. Its CAL FIRE incident page counts 963,309 acres across Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Lassen and Tehama counties, as last updated on October 14, 2022.

The page lists 1,311 structures destroyed and 94 damaged. On CAL FIRE's table of the state's 20 largest wildfires, dated October 2, 2024, the Dixie Fire ranks second.

The North Complex burned a year earlier, starting in August 2020, in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties. The same table gives the whole complex 318,935 acres, 2,352 structures and 15 deaths.

For the Gold Complex and Park fires, Bulletin 2024-6, from the Department of Insurance, paused non-renewals for wildfire risk in nine of Plumas County's ZIP codes. Portola's 96122 and Chester's 96020 were among them, and the one-year pause, which began July 26, 2024, while both fires burned, is over.

Two in three Plumas County homes counted as high or very high wildfire risk in a Department of Insurance estimate: 66.0% of dwelling units, against 12.1% statewide. The estimate weighs catastrophe modelers' scores on a January 1, 2015 count of homes.

Yes, and second homes are common in Plumas County. Census Bureau figures for 2020 to 2024 put 38.5% of homes in Plumas County's ZIP codes in the seasonal or occasional-use group, against 2.4% statewide. The survey's margin of error is about 2.7 points either way.

A cabin goes through the same Casa questionnaire as a main home, plus a few questions on its use, like the months each year it stands empty. Pick "Second or seasonal home" when the questionnaire asks how the home is used.

Insurers weigh those answers, and our guide on how long a house can stay vacant explains when an empty home's coverage changes.

If a cabin ends up on the FAIR Plan, know what that policy is. The Plan calls its dwelling policy "a named peril policy," one that covers only the types of damage it lists. The base policy lists fire, lightning, internal explosion and smoke, and wind, hail and vandalism can be added for an extra charge.

Water damage from a pipe that bursts while the cabin sits empty is not on that list. The policy also leaves out theft and someone getting hurt on the property. The way to close those gaps is to replace the FAIR Plan with one fuller policy from a standard or specialty insurer.

Renting the cabin for stays of 30 days or less can also mean registering for the county's transient occupancy tax before the first stay. Tell your insurer about paying guests as well.

On the Department of Insurance's reading, a new zone alone is unlikely to change your insurance. A consumer alert it issued on April 4, 2025 says the maps' "purpose is to drive local planning decisions, not insurance decisions."

Insurers judge each home with their own wildfire models, and those can rate a home a hard risk in any zone. The zone itself marks where the state's defensible space standards and wildfire building codes apply.

The county adopted the maps for its Local Responsibility Areas, where local fire districts lead wildfire protection, by Ordinance 2025-1159. The board approved it on June 10, 2025, and it took effect July 10, 2025.

Those areas are Chester, Quincy, East Quincy and Sierra Valley. On land where CAL FIRE leads, the state's own zones took effect April 1, 2024. The state's map shows the zone for any address, and our fire hazard zone lookup guide walks through it.

The Fire Risk Reduction Community List the Board of Forestry put in effect on July 1, 2026 names no Plumas County agency. Agencies apply to be listed, and the Board's next application period opens July 1, 2027.

Under California's notice law, a non-renewal notice must be mailed or delivered at least 75 days (90 days beginning January 1, 2028) before a Plumas County policy ends.

For a Plumas County FAIR Plan policy, rates are 29.1% higher on average, varying by home, for new policies and renewals on or after October 15, 2026.

A FAIR Plan policy does not hold you until renewal. If a standard or specialty insurer writes the home, the FAIR Plan policy can be canceled at any time, in writing, once the new policy starts.

Have these ready when insurers ask.

• The roof material and the year it went on.
• Dated photos of cleared ground around the house, decks and outbuildings.
• Who checks on the home in winter, and whether the water is shut off when it sits empty.
• How the home is used: main home, second home, or rented to guests.