May 18, 2022 - Katee Owens nominated me for sainthood last week in another newspaper and made so many mistakes that she has resubmitted me for the honor again in the Sierra Sun Times, this time in a “corrected” version. Still wrong. And frankly, I wish the honor were for what I have really done, not for her fictional list of failures.
Fire Insurance Katee’s off base. In six years of battling insurance companies we haven’t gotten the rates down yet, and haven’t claimed we have. But we have drawn blood.
Quoting Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders: “As an appointed member of then-Governor Brown’s Tree Mortality Task Force, and a leader on its Insurance Sub-Group, Rosemarie did the gritty work of getting information out of insurance companies about how they choose and reject customers, and figuring out how to help people deal with the home insurance crisis in our state.”
One of the other parts of the bill I worked on is a requirement that insurers provide information to the Department of Insurance so they can assess wildfire risk statewide and use that information to evaluate insurers’ rate increase requests. Based on work Amy and I did, Insurance Commissioner Lara has now published regulations that, if implemented, will require insurance companies to not only consider work you have done at your home to minimize fire risk, but also inform you of your insurance “score” and how to improve it. That’s how premiums will get controlled. See: http://rosemariesmallcombe.com/InsuranceRegs.html
Funding Dead Tree Removal Katee didn’t do her homework and repeats her error. The money we used for tree mortality work wasn’t obtained through a grant application process. Don Florence of County OES and I convinced Cal OES to provide funds under the California Disaster Assistance Act. Then, working with supervisors from neighbor counties we got the Governor to put money in the budget to pay for matching funds. It meant $5.4 million for removal of dead trees in Mariposa County. The before and after pictures (see below) are from the same stretch of Jerseydale Road, during the Tree Mortality Disaster in 2016 vs today. Notice the difference? More details here. http://rosemariesmallcombe.com/CalOES_Funding.html
Fuel Loads Reduction Katee needs to get out more. Maybe a drive down one of the many county roads where the tree work was done. Look at the pictures (see below) again. Whether you’re worried about evacuations during a fire or a tree falling on your car, which looks safer to you? We have done a lot to cut fuel loads. We built and maintained fuel breaks. The local Joint Chief’s project was credited for saving Jerseydale, Mariposa Pines, Lushmeadows, and Ponderosa Basin from the Ferguson Fire. And of course, there's more to be done. Nobody claims we've finished.
I am proud of the high level of public and private cooperation on this issue — the County itself, NRCS, Mariposa County RCD and Melinda Barrett, Mariposa Fire Safe Council and Barbara Cone, the Joint Chiefs (Forest Service and NRCS) and Blue Ridge Services have all worked hard together. When we chose Blue Ridge Services to do the work, the owner was a neighbor in Jerseydale, and I visited their office in downtown Mariposa many times. Seemed local enough to me, and they hired local as much as possible.
I’ve been invited to discuss our successes before national organizations like 11,000-member Society of American Foresters and I delivered the keynote presentation on this subject to the annual meeting of the Association of Environmental Planners. You can view my presentation to the Society of American Foresters here. https://youtu.be/-wejyy1U_U0
Katee is simply poorly informed about what we have done and are doing. No hard feelings, but her idea that somehow we have ignored fire, fire protection, and fire insurance is simply not true. I hope if I’m reelected she’ll learn about what is already going on and join our efforts.
Rosemarie Smallcombe
Jerseydale, CA
See related Letters to the Editor below pictures.
Before picture of Jerseydale Road in 2016
After picture of Jerseydale Road in 2022
Related: Letter to the Editor - Time for a Different Approach, Elect Greg Royse for Mariposa County District 1 Supervisor – Letter by Katee Owens
Letter to the Editor - Supervisor Smallcombe has Helped with Restoring Affordable, Available Home Insurance Options for Mariposa County Residents – Letter by Amy Bach, Co-Founder, United Policyholders
Letter to the Editor - Setting the Record Straight - Real Truth Regarding Mariposa Supervisor Smallcombe – Letter by Don Florence
