Colorado Wants Homes in Fire Zones Made Safer

May 21, 2003
State Farm is giving 21,000 homeowners in high risk wildfire zones in Western states two years to make their homes defensible or risk losing insurance coverage.
DENVER (AP) -- State Farm is giving 21,000 homeowners in high risk wildfire zones in Western states two years to make their homes defensible or risk losing insurance coverage.

State Farm, the nation's largest home insurer, will provide advice to homeowners in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming on how to make their homes safer, said Steve Niccolai, the insurance company's commercial underwriting supervisor.

Homes in the very highest-risk areas will be inspected and owners of homes that need work done will be advised by letter. Company officials will work with customers to avoid the need to cancel insurance.

``The last thing we want to do is lose any customers. We want to keep our State Farm customers but we want to teach them that they can live where they want to live and make it safer,'' Niccolai said.

Last year, the Hayman fire southwest of Denver burned 132 homes. Niccolai said 62 of those were lost because brush hadn't been cleared around them.

Other insurance companies also are becoming stricter about issuing new policies for homes in such areas because of the increasing wildfire threat, said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

We've been telling people for years that they need to protect themselves,'' she said.

Foresters have long pressed insurance companies to require homeowners to clear brush and trees near homes and use fire-resistant building materials, especially on roofs.

In the past, insurance companies didn't have enough information to identify areas with the highest risk but state foresters now provide detailed maps, Niccolai said. State Farm can compare the risk maps with its own data on where its customers live.

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