Over the past decade, increasingly catastrophic wildfires have wrought unprecedented destruction and upended the basic math of the insurance industry. In some of the riskiest parts of the country, homeowners have seen spiking premiums or lost their coverage altogether.

Today on the show, we travel to the forested foothills of Northern California to see how communities in wildfire-prone areas are trying to conjure the private insurance market back into existence. What actually happens when a megafire comes knocking at your door. And what all this means for the biggest question: In the age of climate change, could the future simply become uninsurable?

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This episode was produced by Vito Emanuel and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Travis Hagan and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

Music: NPR Source Audio - "FasterFasterBrighter," "Country Butter," and "Chrome and Wax"

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