17,000 Californians are on the verge of losing their fire insurance

Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, will not renew policies on approximately 17,000 residential units starting next month through November. Rather than citing losses, which is often cited as a reason for such actions, the company says the decision is based on technological reasons.

A document to the California Department of Insurance states that the unit is retiring “outdated” technology to manage the policies and that it would be “not feasible” to create a new system to support this product in California in the future.

Liberty Mutual covered nearly 10% of the state’s fire insurance market through a number of subsidiaries. (The vast majority of policyholders will not be affected by this decision.)

Fire insurance customers in other states are also affected by the technology changes, but the number of people affected nationwide was not immediately available.

This has been a brutal season for wildfires in California. The Park Fire, which started when someone pushed a burning car into a ravine, grew into one of the largest fires in the state’s history, consuming 429,000 acres in July and August. That fire, which is currently 85% contained, has destroyed 709 structures and damaged another 54. There have been 2,981 structure fires in the state so far, according to CalFire.

Liberty Mutual will continue to offer fire insurance in the state under its Safeco brand.