Fire Resources
Steps to Protect You and Your Family from A Potential Wildfire
Anticipate that it might be unstoppable
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Anticipate that it might be unstoppable
- Wildfires are becoming more common
- Fire prevention helps but fires can swallow whole towns
- Our clients describe fires in terms of red sky, fire light reflecting off smoke clouds hundreds if not thousands of feet in the air
- Fires can look like the end of the world
- Sometimes, very little can stop them, or prevent them
- Have emergency kits, essentials in a backpack for whatever unforeseen event
- Family meeting spot close by or far away
Document your life
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Document your life
- Take a moment to photograph your home
- Photograph your possessions:
- Cars, trailers, boats
- Get the plates! Make and model
- Jewelry
- Collections (stamps, coins)
- Antiques
- Firearms
- Collectibles
- Pets
- Trees, plants, and shrubs
- Or take a video, walking around your home, yard, of everything
Appraise your property
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Appraise your property
- Real property
- Heirlooms
- Keep receipts and appraisals (if any) for valuable possessions
- Keep documents in a safe place
- Nowhere better than a bank’s safe deposit box
- Fireproof safe
- But these can burn, and are not invincible
Keep important documents in a safe place
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Keep important documents in a safe place
- Birth certificates / Social Security cards
- Deeds
- Leases
- Proofs of ownership
Get homeowners’ or commercial premises insurance if you can
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Get homeowners’ or commercial premises insurance if you can
- If you have coverage, read your policy
- Real property
- Make sure your base coverages (dwelling, other structures) are enough to cover replacement cost
- Supplemental coverages (extended replacement coverage) are available
- Get it
- Have ordinance and law (“code”) insurance
- Additional costs of living (“ALE”)
- Covers cost to rent a like kind dwelling during evacuation
- Expect to be a renter for a while
- For Landlords
- Your coverage should insure loss of rent
- For Commercial owners
- Insure business income
- Insure your business property
- For Personal property
- These are your collectibles
After fires – If the unthinkable happens, things to consider
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After fires – If the unthinkable happens, things to consider
- Get to safety
- Photograph or video your surroundings if it is safe to do so
- Have a passenger photograph or video your evacuation
- Notify your insurer
- Report the (potential) loss
- And get a copy of your policy and coverages
- Get safe housing
- Rent fast for shorter or monthly terms
- Stay flexible if you can
- Document everything you spend in recovery
- Keep receipts, invoices, leases
- Survey your loss (when permitted)
- Photograph / video your loss
- Take pictures of debris, close-up, all around
- Structures
- Contents (jewelry, keepsakes, anything discernable)
- Appliances
- Remnants for salvage
- Damaged trees
- Vehicles
- Inventory your loss
- In your mind’s eye, go “room to room” and write out what you “see”
Resources and Information on Fires that May Assist You
Top 20 Largest California Wildfires
California Wildfire History Map. See how the state’s fires have changed over time due to a changing climate and increasing forest fuel loads.
Statistics and Fire Information
California Wildfire History Map. See how the state’s fires have changed over time due to a changing climate and increasing forest fuel loads.
Reporting from Sacramento
Equipment owned by California’s three largest utilities ignited more than 2,000 fires in three and a half years — a timespan in which state regulators cited and fined the companies nine times for electrical safety violations.
Largest wildfires in California between 1932 and 2021, by number of structures destroyed
Structures include homes, outbuildings (such as barns, garages, and sheds), and commercial properties destroyed.
Facts + Statistics: Wildfire
Largest wildfires in California between 1932 and 2021, by number of structures destroyed
Author: Bill Gabbert, Posted on April 6, 2021.
Fire Resources – When Your Home Burns
Resources for fire victims
PG&E
CA Fire foundation
Programs Supplying Aid to Victims of emergency.
Disaster Assistance
By calling 1-800-621- 3362 or 1-800-462-7585 TTY.
Federal Aid Programs for the State of California
Fire Management Assistance Grants | FEMA.gov
Guide to Disaster Assistance Services for Californians
Feinstein Senate
Public Disaster Assistance
Cal Fund
Wildfire Relief Fund Impact
Red Cross
USA Gov
Disaster Relief Assistance
Insurance Information Institute
Wildfires Insurance and Recoveries resources
California Public Utilities Commission
Wildfire and Wildfire Safety