Lower Your Home’s Fire Risk (and Insurance) With These Steps
A new standard — already being adopted by one burned-out California town — will designate homes as “wildfire prepared” if they follow certain criteria.
A burned-out vehicle is seen near destroyed homes in Paradise, California on Nov. 26, 2018.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergHomeowners in the US got new guidance today to help them defend against increasingly frequent wildfires and associated rising insurance premiums.
The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, a research nonprofit funded by insurers, announced it has developed the first ever standard that can demonstrably lower a home’s risk of wildfire damage. To earn the Wildfire Prepared Home designation, homeowners have to meet a series of criteria — including, for example, clearing anything flammable like shrubs five feet around their homes — and pass an annual inspection.