Owners of properties located in the high-risk wildfire areas of California are finding it increasingly hard to buy home insurance.

Postcodes affected by the deadly infernos that broke out in 2015-2017 recorded a 10% rise in insurer-initiated non-renewals, according to the California Department of Insurance.

The rejection rate was 6% for areas caught up in the 2017-2018 wildfire catastrophes.

“We are seeing an increasing trend across California where people at risk of wildfires are being non-renewed by their insurer,” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said.

“I have heard from many local communities about how not being able to obtain insurance can create a domino effect for the local economy, affecting home sales and property taxes.

“This data should be a wake-up call for state and local policymakers that without action to reduce the risk from extreme wildfires and preserve the insurance market we could see communities unravelling.”

Damaging wildfires have ravaged California in the past few years, sparked in part by the state’s long-running drought and what scientists say is the result of climate change.

The Camp wildfire was the single largest insurance loss event last year at $US12 billion ($17.8 billion), according to Swiss Re.