The direct backyard of my house in Wyoming is Bridger-Teton National Forest, wooded mountainous wilderness for miles with its trees abutting my property. A wildfire in 2012 in the forest came within 1.3 miles of me. I’m insured by State Farm, pay substantially less percentage wise than most places in the country for home insurance and my rate went down this year by about $1K, go figure.
2. Presumably an area that just experienced a fire is now at lower risk of a repeated burn?
The article actually doesn't say that, that's a quote from a different article that I linked to above. The article only mentions the increased risk of wildfires and doesn't place any blame on California's regulatory environment at all.
My other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40260160
My house is insured for more than I bought both the land and house for, as suggested by State Farm themselves due to ludicrous construction costs.