Forest Stewardship Tip of the Day: Is your home properly insured?

As we approach the holidays it is a good time of year to pull out your home’s insurance policy and check  to make sure that you are properly insured in case of catastrophic loss.  Statistically, 6 out of 10 homeowners who are reading this email are currently underinsured! Please save the web links in this email and make sure to update your insurance policy.

The following is cut and pasted from http://bouldermountainresources.org/559-2/

Many homeowners assume their insurance coverage will allow them to rebuild if their home is destroyed by a wildfire. Bruce Honeyman, who lost his home in the Fourmile Fire, shares his experience, “Insurance companies choose estimating tools, Xactimate for example, to give the cost of a home.  Our experience with our insurance company and their use of Xactimate was that it came in 50-60% of what the actual cost from our independent contractor was to rebuild the home.”  A survey following the Fourmile Fire found that over 60 percent of people who lost their homes in Fourmile were under-insured by an average amount of over $160,000. Under-insurance is a common problem in wildfire after wildfire across the country.

This video contains vital information for homeowners so they can properly insure their home against wildfire.http://www.youtube.com/user/BoulderCounty#p/c/034D4EED3629C14A/0/MMNtIzlTsbg

Foothills United Way and Boulder County recently held several insurance preparedness workshops in the county. Please visit www.bouldermountainresources.org to find a copy of the workshop Power Point presentation and a bunch of educational handouts that help walk you through how to make sure your home is properly insured.

Please contact Amy Hardy at ahardy@nullunitedwayfoothills.org or 303-444-4013 if you have any questions. Amy Hardy is the Fourmile Recovery Resource Coordinator with Foothills United Way.

Forestry Article of Interest: From 20 years ago

My colleague, Gary Goodell, recently emailed me a guest opinion piece that was published in the Daily Camera on May 6, 1992.  The article focuses on wildfire mitigation and reminds us that the concepts of defensible space are not new and wildfires are something that foothills residents must learn to live with. Attached to this email is a link to a pdf copy of the article.  I thought folks might find the article interesting to look back at.

Cheers,
Ryan

Ryan Ludlow | Forestry Education & Outreach Coordinator 
Boulder County | Land Use Department
P.O. Box 471, Boulder CO 80306
O: 720.564.2641 | F: 303.441.4856
rludlow@nullbouldercounty.org | www.bouldercounty.org/ForestHealth

1992 Guest Opinion on Defensible Space