Toronto-based Intact Financial has launched a pilot project to help its property insurance customers in Alberta and British Columbia protect themselves from risk and damage when a wildfire is less than five kilometres of their home.
The “loss prevention and suppression services” available through Wildfire Defense Systems (WDS), a consulting and risk intervention firm in Bozeman, Montana, include removing flammable items from around the property, covering exterior vents and closing exterior doors, windows, and garage doors to keep embers from getting inside, and setting up temporary sprinkler systems to combat heat and humidity, Intact said in a release earlier this month.
“In 2023, Albertans and British Columbians experienced a wildfire season of unprecedented scale,” said Luisa Currie, senior vice president West at Intact. With a warm, dry winter pointing toward a “more explosive” summer of fires this. year, the pilot project will deploy retired firefighters and other trained professionals to policy-holders’ homes when a fire is near. Then afterwards, they’ll “attempt to return to the homes to place items back that were moved, remove sprinklers, and confirm there is no continuing threat,” the Globe and Mail writes.
“Last year, the wildfire season in Alberta and British Columbia was very intense, and the very warm and dry winter we had this year is conducive to what could be another challenging wildfire season,” Intact senior vice-president of personal lines Guillaume Lamy told the Globe. “We think weather losses could increase by 50% by 2040, and wildfires in Western Canada specifically are going to be more frequent and more violent.”
In 2022, the Canadian Climate Institute projected that Canadian households will face $25 billion in annual losses due to climate change by 2025, rising to $78 to $101 billion by 2050, depending on future greenhouse gas emissions.
WDS has responded to more than 1,300 wildfires in 22 U.S. states in the 16 years it’s been in operation, always working as a supplement to efforts by wildfire responders and local authorities, Intact Financial states. But even with the added support, the release stresses that there are no guarantees.
“While best efforts will be made, wildfires are unpredictable and WDS cannot guarantee that homes will be serviced or that their actions can fully prevent homes from being damaged by wildfire,” Intact says.
The Globe says the pilot project will cover the majority of homes in B.C. and Alberta. In B.C., it’s available south of the 56th parallel, south of Fort St. John but north of Dawson Creek. In Alberta, the cut-off extends to the 57th parallel to take in Fort McMurray, which was devastated by the wildfire known as The Beast in 2016.
I have been with Intact for many years now and received a letter about this pilot project. Within this letter is the disclaimer “Intact Insurance Company makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee regarding the quality, efficacy or safety of services provided by Wildfire Defense Systems.” So call me old but knowing this is considered a standard disclaimer I am just a little stuck on the words “makes no representation.” Who’s pilot project is it then? Why do I have to phone or e-mail in order to opt out?
Over these years of inflation, shrinkflation, deregulation, self regulation we have seen products and services go down while prices continue to go up. Insurance companies, like all other big businesses, have also been pushed to inflate premiums while shrinking their product lines. One of the biggest reasons for this, in my opinion is because of governments who continually try to wash their hands of responsibilities given to them by title. There is a long and growing list of new laws and understandings that affect insurance companies but mostly those like myself who pay for such products and services.
Making it easier to get a drivers license (deregulation) has presented itself with a generation of bad drivers who pretty flaunt their poor driving habits while our law enforcement, due to lack of funding with added responsibilities, not being properly allowed to enforce the rules of the road. There are some who get radar speeding tickets who say “it’s just a money grab.” I would honestly like to see what they would say if they were pulled over, given a ticket and issued demerits like it used to be done. Instead we now have one strike (not three) before premiums go up, no fault accident coverage just to name two big changes that insurance companies say they need to remain viable.
With the 2024 fire in Fort Mac and in BC there has been no report what so ever regarding the WDS. How many boots on the ground, where and what did they do exactly? So what precedents could possibly be set under provincial authority regarding both my insurance and the existing provincial responsibilities already paid for through taxes? Here in Alberta under the UPC and their push to privatize our health care, our police enforcement makes me ask “what’s next.” Add populism and the new “common sense” on the federal side of things makes me honestly question “we know who us is but who exactly is “them?”
I’m just an old retired guy with a good memory of what we had and what we lost over the years along with how we got here since the 70’s.
Such a great point, Brian. Many thanks for sharing the detail and history. There was a fair bit of detail in the release on the resources WDS has access to, but the bigger question is how insurance finds its way in a climate emergency and what that means for the rest of us. The industry is either funding or conducting a lot of interesting research and analysis in this space, but I still keep wondering what it will take for them to translate that knowledge into investment decisions that don’t throw fuel on the fire!