If you’re planning to travel and stay with family or friends during the holidays, it’s important to take proactive steps to safeguard your home in your absence. Consider the following tips: Read more

If you think about it, there are a lot of similarities between your body and your home. For example, each contains a network of systems that allow the whole to function as needed. With a little imagination, you can draw parallels between your home’s plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems and your body’s circulatory, nervous, and respiratory systems. Read more

This has already been a significant year for wildfires in California, with the Mendocino Complex Fire growing to the biggest in state history and Yosemite National Park closing to visitors for nearly three weeks. Unfortunately, the wildfire season isn’t over yet. In the Bay Area, we have at least another month until the autumn rains arrive, which means wildfires remain a risk for local residents. Read more

I started thinking about my preparedness a lot last fall when fires were raging in Northern California. One day, I came across an article in Consumer Reports magazine that made six key points about fire extinguishers:

1. Make sure you know where yours are.
2. Make sure they’re not coated in dust.
3. Put them on every level of your house.
4. Keep small extinguishers in your car and kitchen.
5. Keep a multipurpose extinguisher in your garage.
6. Make sure the arrows on the indicators point to green, which means they’ll work when the pins are pulled. Read more

One woman’s thoughts on what to pack in an emergency

by Joy Lanzaro, Director, Mediation and Compliance

Few of us have ever witnessed fire damage to residential and commercial structures like we’ve seen in the North Bay over the past few days. Many of us are experiencing a combination of emotions as a result, and anxiety is running high. One way to be prepared and manage anxiety is to put together a “Go Bag” just in case you need to quickly evacuate. My Go Bag is tiny because I’m single—one dog, no kids. Nearly all of my financial and insurance business is transacted online, so that eliminates some documentation. Read more

One of the most critical aspects of fire safety is creating a “defensible space” around your home: a 100-foot radius of property that’s specifically maintained to minimize fire risks. However, defensible space is often misunderstood—a lot of people think it merely consists of clearcutting all trees, shrubs and bushes within 100 feet of their homes, but this oversimplifies the matter. In reality, creating a defensible space involves a specific strategy. Read more

How to Use a Fire Extinguisher Read more