When homeowners have to evacuate due to a wildfire, they may not think about moving propane tanks or wood piles away from their homes to prevent sparks from getting in. Now, a growing number of insurance companies are hiring a U.S. firm to take on this last-minute fire prevention work.Montana-based Wildfire Defense Systems dispatches field staff to 22 U.S. states and to Alberta and B.C. to do last-minute fire prevention work around insured properties.
Fraser-McGaghey's insurance provider, Economical, is one of several Canadian insurers — including Aviva, Intact and Gore Mutual — that have hired Montana-based Wildfire Defense Systems to provide "loss intervention services." "After last year's wildfire season … what we wanted was a company that could provide preventative services," said Rosa Nelson, Intact's vice-president of sales and business development for Alberta and the Prairies.
It's actually tape that is one of the most important tools, said the company's communications director Scott Eskwitt. The company has a memorandum of understanding with Alberta that allows its staff to enter wildfire areas at the direction of the province's incident management team. BC Wildfire Service, for its part, has no agreement with WDS, but a provincial spokesperson told CBC News the company has worked in that province this year with permission from local authorities.
Wildfires, in particular, have caused insurers to pay out about $6 billion in the last 10 years — up from $700 million the decade before, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada .