People living in forested areas in western Montana and elsewhere in the West know they can reduce the risk of losing their homes to wildfire by taking a number of "fire-wise" measures, such as thinning trees and clearing brush around their homes, creating fuel breaks and using fire-resistant materials for home construction.
But knowing and doing are two separate things. Too often, people dwelling in what the firefighting bureaucracy calls the "wildland-urban interface" wait until smoke starts rising over the nearby ridge before firing up the chain saws. By then, of course, it can be too late.
Progress on this front could come rapidly if a program being tested in Colorado proves workable. As Denver's Rocky Mountain News reported recently, State Farm insurance has begun instructing thousands of homeowners it covers in fire-prone areas to fire-wise up or prepare to find a new insurance company. The company sends insurance agents out to look over properties it covers and follows up with notices to homeowners prescribing risk-reduction measures. State Farm began the program on a limited scale last year in Colorado and Arizona, and this year is expanding it to several other states.
Insurance provides a sharing of risks. When fire destroys a home, an insured homeowner is compensated with money collected from all the other people who pay premiums for similar coverage. Large losses caused by wildfire ultimately mean higher insurance costs for everyone. It's only fair to expect homeowners living in fire-prone areas to do what they can to keep their risks to a minimum. Anyone who doesn't want to take prudent measures should be free not to, but the rest of us should be freed from the responsibility of protecting against and paying for his losses.
By doing a better job of protecting their own homes, people living in fire-prone areas will make it easier and safer for firefighters to do their jobs. They may also make it possible for firefighters to tie up fewer resources trying to save doomed structures, resources that might better be directed at stopping the fires. Possibly, these measures could also reduce the cost of firefighting.
State Farm has a good idea that other insurance companies ought to borrow.
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