#37 High on the List: Fire Prevention!
You did the work, you got
your Mortgage loan, you’re in your home!
You weathered that period of time when you thought the “transition
lists” would never end! Oh, well! –
here’s another one; a very important one.
We can’t control the greater
forces of nature that bring devastating things like tornados, hurricanes,
earthquakes, blizzards and spontaneous natural fires. Those can be bad enough, for sure, without
the help of fires started through carelessness or set by arsonists. But what we can do is be as prepared as is possible
and reasonable.
Our Lake County region
recently suffered severely from both wildfires and floods. Many suffered
directly with actual loss or damage to persons, property, livestock and
equipment. Others suffered indirectly
through the many ripple effects that impacted our communities.
Many, looking back, had to
come to grips with some hard realities – not the least of which were poor
prevention efforts and minimal preparedness against dire possibilities. – in this
discussion, the risk of Fire.
Protecting your mortgaged
property against the chance of fire should be a serious priority! Hindsight, as usual, is often painful,
especially when you take a good look at how simple some of the preventive steps
could have been. Your “preparation”
very likely may have begun and ended with the fire insurance required by your
Lender. (After all, until that Mortgage
is fully paid you technically do not yet legally own that home.)
The insurance is a good place
to start, but it’s about “the end game.”
Let’s take a look at some simple, sensible “up-front” tactics!
“Being prepared” is something
we have no trouble accomplishing when it comes to simple things such as not
driving until the kids are all buckled into their seat belts; or, making sure
you have the right stuff when you go off to an important meeting. In fact we practice many forms of
preparedness – large and small – when the connection is immediately apparent. Flight insurance before you board, vaccinations
for our pets, motion sensors to light the path when you get home after
dark. Simplistic examples? Yes.
But the logic is the same when it comes to meaningful fire prevention
and preparedness steps.
As with all such concepts,
where fire prevention is concerned, we can look at the maximum aspect or the
minimal. Simple, obvious steps could
include keeping brush and shrubs away from your home structure, properly
storing easily flammable items away from your primary structure and keeping
yard and gardens free of things that might spontaneously cause combustion (like
broken glass in extremely hot weather.)
On the other hand, consider a
meeting with family members to discuss “escape procedures and routes.” Can
the children get safely out through the windows of their bedrooms? If they are located on the upper story do you
have an escape ladder? Do they
understand about how creating a draft by opening a door is a seriously wrong
move? How about “go bags” in case you cannot stay at your home because
of serious damage – a simple satchel in each family member’s closet!
Your local Fire Fighters team
has lots of valuable information and recommendations – and so does your
Mortgage loan officer! It is in your
Lender’s best interest, as well, to help you help them to protect their
investment in you. Just ask!
Space here doesn’t allow the
many more ways you can be prepared for something you hope – and plan – will not
happen. It’s like that seat belt example
– we do that action because when we get on the road, the risks are right there,
apparent and in front of us. Threats
like a disastrous fire seem remote. It’s
good to remember such tragedies don’t just happen to “other” folks. Let’s take a lesson from recent events, and
take preventative steps to reduce the risk to property and loved ones.
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