How to Keep Your Home Safe During California Wildfire Season

The last few years have brought the most destructive fire seasons on record and this fire season has already been active with wildfires in both northern and southern California.

While TV coverage of those fires often shows long lines of flames, experts say that’s not how most structures catch fire. As many as 90% of structures ignite from a wildfire because of embers, embers that pickup and loft. With the strong Santa Ana winds in Southern California and the Diablo winds in the north, those embers can create destructive firestorms. Those embers they pick up and fly, they become a shower. Imagine rain but it’s all on fire coming, whether it’s 12 miles an hour or 30 miles an hour. These embers pick up and they loft and regularly go as much as a half-mile.

One of the most important things you can do to protect your home is to look at the landscaping that surrounds the residence. You wanna make sure the first five feet there is nothing that can catch fire. Pay attention to make sure your bushes and plants are five feet away, you have rock up against your house and then you can begin to look at things like the attic vents and the various other materials. Another very real way to protect your home and everything inside is through insurance. Most people their home is their greatest asset and having the right insurance policy is your first line of defense and recovering after a natural disaster. It’s important to make those insurance decisions ahead of time so when a disaster does come you have coverage that works for you.

You can learn more about how to protect your home in the case of a disaster and the benefits of insurance during a wildfire at APCI.org or at disastersafety.org

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