Key Points
A Colorado house shows the value of pre-fire mitigation...
- Wildfire Partners supports Colorado homeowners for fire damage mitigation.
- Colorado owners who took the advice saved their houses in a 2016 fire, whereas neighbours who did not take measures lost their properties and possessions.
- Today, implementing all measures would cost less than 7% of a property’s value.
How disasters are being avoided
A Colorado house, certified by Wildfire Partners, avoided burning in 2016
On 8 July 2016, a poorly extinguished campfire ignited a wildfire in Colorado’s mountains. No one died, but two thousand people evacuated and eight houses completely burned.
Eight other houses in the torched forest survived unscathed. They were certified by Wildfire Partners and had implemented pre-fire damage mitigation.
The cost for all the measures is estimated at under $90,000 per house with the property in the photo valued at over $1.3 million in 2023.
Wildfire damage mitigation is good value-for-money (and avoids stress) given the near-certainty of a nearby fire over the house’s lifetime.
Earth observations support wildfire damage mitigation through monitoring and mapping such as vegetation, slopes, and winds. The data warn of potential and actual fire ignition and spread, assisting with preparation and response.
Sources:
1. Czajkowski et al. 2020. Application of Wildfire Mitigation to Insured Property Exposure. CIPR Research Report.
2. Wildfire Partners https://wildfirepartners.org
