Colorado Insurers Asked To Extend ALE Coverage For Marshall Fire Victims

Insurance companies with clients who lost homes in the Marshall fire had until Friday, the one-year anniversary of Colorado’s most destructive fire, to let Colorado’s Division of Insurance know if they’re going to extend coverage of those clients’ additional living expenses to 24 months.

Commissioner Michael Conway sent the companies notice in early December. ‘It’s not realistic for people to be able to rebuild in 12 months in the best of circumstances, and we’re certainly not in the best of circumstances right now,’ Conway said in an interview with the Denver Gazette.

‘We thought it would be another opportunity for the companies to be able to step up for the community and be able to show that they’re committed to helping the community recover.’

The Marshall fire destroyed more than 1,100 homes and businesses, charred more than 6,000 acres and killed two people. Conway estimated total losses could top $2 billion when all is accounted for.

Though the commission can’t require insurance companies to extend coverage, officials plan to publish a list of the companies that agreed to the request, and those that didn’t.