Grass Fires

Grass Fires

It is once again that time of year when fires are on everyone’s mind. Let’s take a look at how property insurance, such as homeowners, or farm insurance responds with respect to grass fires. A grass fire, regardless of the cause (lightning, burn off getting out of control, arson – not set by you, etc.), is a form of fire covered by most insurance policies available. The insurance industry got its start in London England hundreds of years ago with the primary focus of insuring fire and spreading the losses of the few among the many, and although things have changed a lot since then, this remains at the heart of what the industry is about today. Every policy is different, and it’s always important to understand your policy specifically, that said, in general terms, short of a property owner intentionally burning their own property, fire is generally always covered.

Now let’s take a look at some other important considerations when looking at grass fires

Other Property

Certain property such as unlicensed vehicles, boats and motors, high-value garden equipment, ATV’s, cabin trailers and snowmobiles are not automatically included under a homeowners or farm insurance policy and would require special coverage to be insured against fire. This is true whether they are on your property, stored elsewhere, in a building, and regardless of the cause of the fire. If you want items such as these to have coverage make sure you know they are listed on your policy (in most cases you’ll see the item described right on your policy)

Outbuildings

While your homeowner’s insurance policy and some farm insurance policies will cover personal outbuildings – detached structures built originally for and used exclusively for personal use, there are many cases where this is not true. If you have an outbuilding that was built or is used for farm purposes it should be shown and described on your policy pages to ensure you have coverage on that those buildings.

Fire Fighting Expenses

If a volunteer fire department or even a municipal fire department from a neighboring RM attends your premises to combat a fire they may asses charges for their time, supplies and equipment against you – the property owner! There is a specialized coverage that can respond to pay for these expenses, and in most cases must be specially purchased. In addition, this coverage will typically respond where property insured by your policy is damaged or is in endangered.

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