By Judy Beust Harrington, Co-Chair, Kensington Fire Safe (KFS)
Kensington’s Fire Safe Council will share researched answers to your inquiries here. Send fire-related questions to info@kensingtonfiresafe.org. Pictures appreciated!
Q: Are We a “Fire Risk Reduction Community”?
A: A neighbor recently contacted us about this question on a homeowner insurance application: Is Kensington either a “Fire Risk Reduction Community” or a “Firewise Community?”
Sorry, nope – we’re not either one, but wish we were.
Attaining a Firewise designation is a very challenging, long-term process requiring a lot of volunteer residential involvement. It’s likely more achievable for condo associations. According to the Firewise website, some insurance companies do offer discounts to residents residing in Firewise USA sites. (https://www.nfpa.org/)
On the other hand, a “Fire Risk Reduction Community” designation or “FRRC” seems more do-able. It requires local community assessment of fire vulnerabilities and a comprehensive plan to reduce risks. While San Diego County is on the list of FRRCs, the City of San Diego is not. We reached out to Fire Marshall Anthony Tosca about it, and he said the city plans to apply for this designation next time the opportunity becomes available. Perhaps this designation might mean a possible rate discount in the future for homeowners.
Meanwhile, if you want to see how your insurance costs compare to others, you could check out Bankrate’s website, although our insurance advisor, Scott Caraveo said they only list insurers who pay to be listed, and some aren’t doing business in California. If you submit your contact info, you’re likely to be bombarded with phone calls and emails from brokers. https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/homeowners-insurance/homeowners-insurance-cost/
BTW, there’s also something called a Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange” (CLUE) report on a homeowners insurance claims history. Homeowners can request a copy under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, toll-free at 1-866-312-8076 or by visiting consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com. Scott says insurance companies use reports like CLUE all the time, but CLUE reports don’t always include your specific claims history – it could include claims made at the property before you owned it or claims you made at a prior residence. In any case, insurance carriers already know about these events and are taking them into consideration each year.
Is My Home’s Fire Score Online?
Thank you, Sandra Johnson, for pointing out to us that some real estate sites are now including a fire risk score. I checked Realtor.com for a house for sale on Sussex, and here’s what it showed:
Glad to see it says “minimal” although, that seems odd since much of Kensington is designated a Very High Fire Risk Hazard Area. Both Scott and I wonder about the accuracy of these ratings. Realtor.com has a pretty good Q&A on their scoring: https://www.realtor.com/wildfire-risk/.
Other sites also providing fire ratings include:
- Wildfirerisk.org: Shows risks on a color-coded map when you search by town, county, or state.
- Riskfactor.com: Shows a fire score for any property in the continental USA. The fire factor scale ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating no modeled exposure to wildfire and 10 indicating a greater than 36% chance of burning over 30 years.
- FirstStreet.org: Bases wildfire risk on a region’s vegetation, topography, and fire-related weather.
- ClimateCheck: Provides a free climate risk assessment for any address in the U.S.
- CoreLogic: Provides a wildfire risk score that evaluates available fuel, as well as the topography of the land.
While these may be good tools for selling a house, they’re unlikely to sway insurance companies on your property’s safety. More accurate may be the Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps, although I find them a bit hard to work with since they don’t name major roads and highways. They can be found at: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/
We wish all those struggling to keep, find or afford their insurance luck – we’ve had our own challenges too!
Fire-safe Materials?
Last note – a reader of our Sept-Oct column on Zone Zero asked if there are any non-flammable cushions one could have on porch wrought iron furniture and still meet the future five-foot-from-the house zero flammability requirement. Any thoughts on that, folks?