Four insurance companies in Alberta have partnered with Wildlife Defense Systems to offer homeowners added coverage if they have to evacuate.
The company, located in Bozeman, Montana in the United States, is touted as North America’s largest wildlife insurance service. Wildlife Defense Systems protects policyholders’ houses when wildfires threatens them.
When fire breaks out, tactical teams will deploy from “strategically-located coordination centres” south of the border. Teams will remove any flammable items from the house’s exterior, set up sprinklers, and apply fire retardant to the house, among other services.
The teams, fully trained and unionized with the International Association of Firefighters, deploy when a policyholder has been ordered to evacuate.
The cost of this year’s wildfires is still being calculated (and the forests are still burning), but it’s shaping up to be about as costly as the 2023 season, which rang up a whopping $945 million in insurance claims.
The Jasper wildfire alone has cost $880 million in insurance claims, and it is the costliest event since Parks Canada began operating. Luckily, signing up for coverage with Wildfire Defense Systems does not cost anything extra for policyholders.
Insurance Costs Rise
Alberta is known for its rough climate, but our severe weather is getting more severe.
The past ten years have seen an increasing number of wildfires and floods. Extreme weather events are a growing concern for people hoping to insure their belongings.
Lately, flood insurance, typically called “Overland Water Coverage” insurance, has been difficult to get.
Home insurance policies do not automatically cover flooding, and if the client lives in an area deemed to be at high risk of flooding, they are often unable to purchase this added coverage.
To respond to this problem, the federal government has promised to launch a national flood insurance program.
The program states that it “will help ensure all homeowners, regardless of their risk, have access to affordable flood insurance.” The program has yet to be launched.
The federal government’s pledge to provide Canadians with affordable flood insurance leaves us wondering: should the Albertan government do the same for wildfires?
Should we reinvest the money spent on protecting our belongings back into the Canadian economy, instead of sending it south across the border?
