Are You Prepared for Wildfires on the East Coast?

Temperatures are rising, the sun is shining, and as much as you love the dry, warm weather for your plans, it poses a very concerning threat up and down the East Coast: wildfire danger. While most of our attention is focused on the continued historic wildfires within just the last decade in places such as California, with warm, dry, and at times windy weather patterns becoming more frequent, the danger is real for wildfires all across the United States.

A report that came out from Yale University confirmed that in just 2021 alone, insured wildfire destruction costs all across the United States totaled billions of dollars? The scary part is that the risk continues to rise as our climate changes, and in the next several decades, research shows that tens of millions of people are at risk. Hearing these statistics might be startling, but like any other natural disaster, if you take action ahead of time to make sure you’re properly insured and prepared, it will save you some added stress if a wildfire threatens your community.

It doesn’t matter where you live, or what season we are in, there’s always a threat of a new brush fire sparking with the right weather conditions and amount of dry vegetation in your neighborhood. Coming out of winter and into spring, the increased cleaning up and burning yard waste combined with already dry vegetation makes months like April and May when we see a majority of wildfires. Here’s a simple checklist that you can go through to make sure your home is fire-weather ready from Ready.Gov:

• Make sure your home has the best fighting chance. This includes making repairs or updates that have fire-resistant materials

• Create the proper defensible space to help slow the spread of fire both to and from your home

• Know your evacuation zone and have alternate routes mapped out in the event some are blocked from rapidly changing conditions. This also includes going over your evacuation plan if you need to leave quickly with your entire family

• Have a supply kit fully stocked and easy to access that would assist your entire household

• Make sure you have the proper insurance to protect your home in the event there is a fire. Some plans take a certain number of days before they become active and also, make sure you have up-to-date pictures of your property and belongings at all times. This will make filing a claim much easier after a fire

By taking these critical steps ahead of time, you will prevent added chaos and anxiety if a fire breaks out in or threatens your community. And just as important, we all need to do our part to prevent fires, as our good friend Smokey Bear constantly reminds us all season long!