fires, local businesses can choose to buy that insurance or not,” says Capponi. “I see a wildfire as inherently different from a house fire. A wildfire spreads because of high fuel loads in forests and dryness due to climate change. It is a catastrophic event that affects a wide geographic range, like an earthquake.” As a co-owner of Piña Napa Valley Winery in Napa, Capponi would decline wildfire insurance solely to have the ability to buy coverage on his wine stock. “Because of the ‘fire’ definition including all fire, it is an all-or- nothing deal for property insurers. If they can’t accept the ‘wildfire’ risk, then they can’t provide any property coverage,” says Capponi. He adds California is a good state to write policies if the risk of wildfires is removed from policies. “We now typically have seasonal heavy rains. We do not have widespread threats of tornadoes, hurricanes, hail storms and ice storms. The North Bay especially has many properties that are high value, which equates to premiums that make money for insurers. The question is how to encourage policies to be written differently,” says Capponi. Ideas for fire defense North Bay businesses can protect themselves from wildfires by expanding upon the strategies that Cal Fire has developed for residential structures. Cal Fire recommends establishing at least 100 feet of defensible space around every building, reducing potential fuel within 100 feet or to the property line and clearing areas within 10 feet of propane tanks down to bare mineral soil. The agency advises placing dumpsters a fair distance from structures. An owner should also place them inside a fire-resistant enclosure and keep the lids secured from blowing open.
“This decreases the chance of embers igniting in trash and being carried to buildings, and vice versa. A business owner should also keep flammable objects like paper documents and bags of fertilizer out of openings like doors and windows. As a general rule, they should close doors and windows, especially on windy days,” says Frank Bigelow, deputy director of Community Wildfire Preparedness & Mitigation and Fire Engineering & Investigations Division of Cal Fire. Businesses with uncultivated acreage can hire companies with grazing animals to reduce large amounts of vegetation. Sheep and goats in particular are highly effective at reducing fire fuels and controlling invasive species. Cori Carlson, president of Napa Pasture Protein in Napa, oversees her goats as they enter a meadow to graze. [Photo courtesy Napa Pasture Protein]
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December 2024
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