Crews have spent nearly two weeks battling the Vantage Highway Fire on the west side of the Columbia River, just north of Vantage. The Department of Natural Resources' Firewise Guidelines recommend that homeowners work to establish a 100-foot fire break between their homes and the surrounding areas by mowing, trimming trees and shrubs and keeping flammable clutter away from the home.
August 10, 2022
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Insurance and wildfires
Mitigating risks and ensuring proper coverage
MOSES LAKE — A lot of things can damage a home, but according to insurance agent Steve Crapson, fire is different. “You can save a lot of stuff from water, but you can’t save stuff from fire,” Crapson said. “Once it's burnt. It's gone forever. Those memories, those are the part of the cost that you can't recoup ever. Pictures, sentimental quilts, those kinds of things. They never can be redone.” Crapson, an exclusive agent for Allstate Insurance, said it’s better for homeowners, especially those living in the countryside, at the edge of towns, and in high-risk areas far from a rapid fire department response, to approach fire risk more with prevention rather than recovery in mind. In 2021, wildfires consumed more than 1.9 million acres in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, according to a press release from the Northwest Insurance Council. Even with 2022’s cooler and wetter spring, this year’s fire season is already upon us...