Supporting the Membership Through Catastrophes
PURE Staff
April 28, 2025
The most important commitment we have is to be there for our members when they need us most, especially as catastrophic events are happening more frequently and in areas that may surprise you.
Generally speaking, insurance serves as a backstop to help you recover after the worst happens. But PURE aims to go above and beyond just your policy and serve as a reliable partner and support for you in the wake of extreme, sometimes catastrophic, events.
In 2024, the U.S. experienced $117 billion in insured catastrophe losses—that’s 27% above the recent five-year average and 52% above the recent 10-year average.1
In the last few decades, attention toward catastrophe-prone areas was focused on a few geographies—think the Southeast and Gulf coasts for hurricanes or brushy areas of California for wildfire. However, extreme weather has shown more volatile patterns.
In recent years, we’ve seen wildfires as far east as New York and South Carolina, as well as atmospheric floods in California, hurricanes in western North Carolina, tropical storm effects in New England, winter freezes in Houston and an increase in severe convective storms throughout most of the U.S. Higher rates of inflation and urban sprawl further complicate the impact these events have.
As we see extreme weather events happening with increasing severity and frequency, we are doing more to make sure we can be there for our members in times of need. While the exact steps we take vary with the unique circumstances of each event, here are some of the ways we have prepared for and shown up for our members during recent catastrophes.
Preparation
The focus of our Catastrophe Modeling team is to understand the perils and geographies that pose the greatest risk to the membership. This research helps our underwriters make sound decisions when it comes to whom we invite into the membership, helps us avoid over-aggregation in any one area and informs strategic decisions such as reinsurance purchases. By considering the question “What could happen?”, the Catastrophe Modeling team helps ensure PURE is financially stable for the long term and prepared for catastrophe events when they occur.
Being prepared to support members in a meaningful way during these events means being prepared for the worst and having dedicated PURE staff and vendors on hand, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Our team spends as much time responding to a particular event as they do building and maintaining partnerships with vendors and contractors across the country to ensure they will work with us, for our members, when the time comes. These are the critical vendors who can assist with providing emergency equipment and supplies, generators, fuel, art storage and transportation, tree removal, security and rental vehicles.
Having the right vendors and contractors is important, but it’s not the whole story. Another key element is ensuring our teams are properly staffed and supported on an everyday basis so that they have the capacity to jump into action during these events.
During the PURE360 Risk Management Consultation, a PURE Risk Manager will assess vulnerabilities and make recommendations for ways to improve resiliency, whether specific to weather, catastrophe risks or regular home maintenance.
When it comes to catastrophe risks, our Risk Managers might assess defensible space for wildfire or recommend trimming or removing trees that could cause issues in high-wind or hurricane events.
For everyday risks, they might advise you to add an automatic water shut-off device to reduce damage from frozen and burst pipes or let you know about pre-existing wind or hail damage that needs to be addressed.
In addition, the PURE360 aims to ensure that proper coverage and policy terms are in place and enables us to document unique custom features within homes—both of which reduce friction during the recovery process if a claim does occur.
Monitoring
The PURE Situation Room team keeps us, and our members, informed in real time about events that could impact the membership. This team conducts 24/7 monitoring of events across the country, including alerts for auto recalls, hurricanes, wildfires, home break-ins, tornadic activity, hail, cold snaps and more.
When it’s determined that members could be at risk, we reach out via email or phone call with advice, resources or simply to check in. We plan to introduce text messaging soon to more efficiently contact members before, during or after some of these events.
Responding
All of our catastrophe planning efforts help to set us up for success. We’re often the first on the scene, putting members at ease and helping in any way we can. Depending on access, we’ll deploy PURE Claims Adjusters and PURE Art Services team members along with preferred contractors to proactively inspect homes and help mitigate damage
The PURE Corps is a dedicated group of more than 100 team members from across the organization who have raised their hands to support our membership during catastrophe events. Their everyday jobs range from underwriting and product management to accounting and human resources.
During catastrophe events that have the potential to impact a large group of our members, this team of volunteers reaches out via phone and email to check in on members so that our Claims and PURE Situation Room teams can focus on being an on-the-ground resource to members.
We recognize the emotional impact and deep sense of shock that can come with a large loss. Our Claims team and others within PURE receive specialized training for emotional intelligence and trauma-informed care to ensure they can respond with empathy and compassion during what might be one of the most difficult events in a member’s life.
In 2020, we brought in The National Center for Equity and Agency Inc.’s (NCEA) Certified Trauma-Informed® Insurance Professional program with Dr. Laura McGuire to introduce a trauma-informed care program that our employees and members are still benefiting from today. This course is designed to instill confidence and empathy within our claims team, providing them with awareness, strategies and communication methods to help members manage their experience and reach resolutions sooner.
A second phase of the program, NCEA’s REGROW™, was created to center on the wellbeing of our employees, highlighting the importance of positive psychology and providing tools they can use to build relationships, increase interpersonal awareness and prevent burnout when caring for others.
I had firsthand experience with Hurricane Helene. We were trapped in our homes for three days with no power, water or outside communications. Much to my surprise, a crew showed up at our neighbor’s house to remove trees from their roof. This crew was hired by PURE. They worked tirelessly and were the first relief crew to make it to our area.
Catastrophe Response in Action: The Los Angeles Wildfires
As wildfires were breaking out in Los Angeles, we were quickly mobilizing to support the membership. Our Claims and PURE Corps teams made hundreds of proactive calls to members in the path of the fire, and we sent 18 dedicated adjusters to the area to provide in-person support. The PURE Art Services team was also deployed to assist in the inspection and handling of fine art and collections claims and to coordinate the transportation of art out of harm’s way where possible.
From the start, our Situation Room team was closely tracking the fire as well as monitoring the response of local fire departments and road access. They used this information to identify potentially impacted members and manage the deployments of our wildfire defense partner, Capstone. We had seven response trucks dedicated to helping our members—the first of which was deployed within an hour of when the fire was first reported, around the same time that local fire departments began their response. Capstone visited more than 200 of our members’ properties to check in and take preventative measures.
On the scene, our Claims team worked to uncover precious family items from the debris and one adjuster even drove eight hours round-trip to meet a member face-to-face when he sensed that there was confusion over coverage and next steps. In the aftermath of the fire, we were focused on showing up in meaningful ways for our impacted members, especially those who experienced damage or, in some heartbreaking cases, the total loss of their home.
Our Senior Claims Leadership was on the ground in California to meet with members and brokers and ensure that claims were off to a smooth start. Our Claims team inspected all losses and advanced payments to members within two to three weeks, in many cases before other carriers were even in the area.
We also worked to contract a leading hygienist from UCLA to assist in the remediation of homes that were damaged by smoke and ash, as well as three high-end custom home builders who were writing rebuild estimates for our members within weeks of the fires.
While we still have work to do to make all of our impacted members whole again, we are proud of our Claims team and other staff for the ways in which they showed up for the membership. We are also grateful to all the first responders who worked tirelessly to contain the fires.
1. Gallagher Re, Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report 2024, January 2025.
