Making homes in wildfire zones less flammable, more insurable
There are remedies — both well-known and up-and-coming— that can help protect homes from blowing embers.
In the last five years, the Californian wildfire problem has started to majorly influence the insurance market. The eight largest California wildfires have all occurred since December 2017. Forty-thousand structures have been destroyed and tens of thousands more had soot damage, and according to Mark Sektnan of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, “Insurers in some cases paid out more than four dollars for every dollar that they took in.” And at the end of 2021, we had our first major departure as AIG is no longer offering admitted insurance coverage in California.
I have worked closely with some of the best insurance brokers in the country and they have been faced with the burden of marketing policies with increased deductibles, sky-high premiums and reduced coverage. The number one question I’ve been asked is: How can we make our homes more insurable and less disaster-prone?
This may seem like a strange question and discussion for us to be having. Our businesses depend on disasters on small and large scales. While we don’t hope that bad things happen to homes and properties, we are in the business of disasters. Despite these market forces, I believe it is the responsibility of every disaster restoration professional to ask the question on every loss: Is there anything I can do to help this customer never have to go through this again (or at the very least reduce the times it happens again)?
Wildfire damage is a perfect example because it is a problem that can be inexpensively mitigated, especially if we understand where wildfire damage comes from. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) estimates that up to 90% of wildfire ignitions are caused by embers that have blown away from the main fire. Since most of our wildfires are accompanied by heavy winds, these embers can be blown far from where the main force of firefighters may be situated. If the homeowners are already evacuated, no one is there to call 911 and if the homeowners are there, calling 911 is not a guarantee either. Our brave firefighters can’t possibly get to all of these areas, and when you drive through neighborhoods after a wildfire it’s almost eerie to see single homes left standing on a street of ten piles of rubble where homes once stood.
Science is starting to offer real, sustainable solutions on things that homeowners and businesses can do to greatly reduce the chance that an ember could ignite their property. There are two well-known remedies and one up-and-coming solution for homeowners (and the opportunity to help for restorers).
Step 1: Hardening the structure
Do you remember the story about the three little pigs? The big bad wolf was coming, and the first two pigs had hired unlicensed handymen (pardon the editorial commentary) to build them a house of straw and sticks respectively. The big bad wolf blew their homes down and they were declared total losses. The third pig hired a fair and honest contractor who received overhead and profit and built a beautiful home of brick that the wolf was powerless against.
Like our porky friends, we too should be careful to build structures in high severity fire zones out of non-combustible materials. We can educate our clients about ember-safe vents and gutters. We should look at a home and ask ourselves, “What vulnerabilities exist here?” and offer ideas to correct them. My restoration company has increased the amount of self-funded work every single year for the last five years in the name of improving and protecting the homes of our clients.
Step 2: Vegetation management
The second most important area that is vulnerable is the vegetation around our homes. My company specializes in working on high-end estates in areas like Beverly Hills and Bel Air. In addition to the luxury of the homes themselves, the grounds tend to rival that of a European castle. Many landscape designers are focused on presenting an aesthetic over something that may be less flammable and safer.
Moreover, areas like dry brush under wood decks or bushes, or mulch around the perimeter of a home, are perfect areas for an ember to land and cause the entire home to be engulfed in a matter of minutes. Eliminating these hazards is a critical step.
Step 3: Long-term retardant application
The challenge with vegetation management is that most clients do not want to get rid of vegetation. They planted trees and gardens to look and feel a certain way, and they don’t always want to trim or remove them. Moreover, they may want wood around their property as opposed to non-flammable, non-organic products.
This is where long term retardant (LTR) comes in. Most of us who live in wildfire areas are familiar with the crimson red LTRs being dropped from airplanes during a wildfire. The product most commonly used by CalFire is Phos-Chek. This product, when sprayed properly, makes whatever it is on inflammable. It lasts for up to an inch of rainfall.
Despite only being in southern California, we’ve also started training affiliate partners who are doing work for us in central and northern California and we have plans to extend our affiliate program into other wildfire areas starting later this year. Every year, over $2 billion is spent on wildfire prevention and mitigation, and companies are ramping up to assist with prevention before and restoration after to help with this growing emergency.
I hope that restorers will join us in making the properties of our clients safer and more disaster-proof. It’s been one of the best opportunities we’ve found as a restorer to broaden our relationship with both our clients and our referral sources and, as residents of the state, it makes a ton of sense to protect the homes around us.
Tim Bauer started working in disaster restoration 20 years ago and serves as Senior Vice President for the Private Client division of Allied Restoration. He also is a co-founder of Restoration Mastery\, which teaches and educates restoration companies. Tim has conducted trainings and contributed thought leadership on disaster restoration marketing, recruiting, sales and many other subjects, and is a three-time TEDx Speaker. Contact him at tbauer@alliedrestoration.com.