*A centenarian displaced by the Eaton Fire in Southern California is at the center of a growing insurance dispute that her family says is putting her life at risk. Mary McNair, 100, has been kept from returning to the Altadena property she has called home for the past six decades while her family wages a battle with State Farm over what they say is woefully inadequate coverage, ABC7 reports.
Mary’s house survived the firestorm, but ferocious heat caused widespread destruction throughout the property and reduced her garage to ash. A contractor determined the home’s entire electrical system must be replaced, with city regulations requiring the new wiring to run underground — pushing costs well beyond what the insurer is willing to pay.
Baron Alexander Martinez of Baron Construction and Design estimated the repairs at roughly $30,000. “They melt down the whole wire system, and now, we’re not supposed to put any drop for the city, we have to go underground, and that’s a lot of money,” Martinez said. State Farm has offered just $2,000 toward the work.
Mary’s daughter Gloria Laird called the situation unbearable. “It’s been a nightmare…I think it was part of her having the stroke. The stress of it was tremendous for her cause it seems like she’s never gonna get back into her home,” she said. Before her health declined, Mary had been managing her own household well into her hundredth year.
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“It hurts me because I’ve watched her go from my grandmother to where she is now,” said Mary’s granddaughter Darshana McNair. She also questioned whether Mary’s age was working against her. “For people her age, I feel like they don’t give her the attention that they would somebody younger because, basically, they know stress her out and she could possibly leave here,” she said.
After ABC7 contacted State Farm, the insurer reached out to the family following an extended period of silence. A meeting with the family’s contractor is now on the calendar, and the family remains hopeful Mary will soon return home.
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