Farmers Insurance "Before the Threat" Fire Preparedness Package Distributed to 400,000 Homes

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Farmers Insurance Expands "Before the Threat" Program

For the second year Farmers Insurance Group has partnered with fire departments to hand out information packages to residents in areas of San Diego County, California that are prone to wildfires.  Last year, Farmers Insurance partnered with the San Miguel Fire District to distribute the "Before the Threat" fire prevention and preparedness packages to 10,500 homeowners, and the pilot program was so successful that in 2009, the insurance company expanded it so that fifty-five fire districts and 3,000 volunteers were able to distribute the packages to 400,000 homes.

Contents of "Before the Threat" Packages

The "Before the Threat" packages include a DVD about fire safety, prevention and preparedness, a booklet for families to detail the contents of their home for possible insurance claims, and a checklist for how to make homes and property "fire safe".  The kit underlines the importance of creating defensible space by eliminating ornamental vegetation, keeping trees trimmed, and cleaning out gutters.  Farmers Insurance Group Executive Director, Charles Dabelgott explains that the package "allows people to go through and find out, 'How do I prevent fires from coming to my property?  What do I do in case of a fire? What do I do after the fire happens?'"

Funding of "Before the Threat" Program

The campaign was made possible by a $200,000 grant from Farmers Insurance Group in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services and the San Diego Fire Chiefs Association. The campaign was launched at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, and the packages were distributed over two weekends about forty-five days before the arrival of the Santa Ana winds, which historically have accelerated the spread of wildfires across Southern California.  Expressing the importance of getting the fire prevention and preparedness packages out before the arrival of the winds and the peak of California wildfire season, San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Tracy Jarman says, "If we can even prevent just a few homes from burning this year, it will more than pay for the effort." 

Significance of Partnership Between Fire Departments and Farmers Insurance

Speaking at the launch of this year's "Before the Threat" program, Fire Chief Augie Ghio of the San Miguel Fire District said, "Nowhere in the country have so many diverse fire agencies from municipal to fire districts to tribal reservation fire departments galvanized to get out a campaign of this size educating and preparing the communities to take care of themselves.  This is the biggest effort in the country going on at this time, and what makes it even better is that we're seeing in California a dramatic decline in revenues, and the first thing we normally cut is public education."

Future Expansion of Program

Dan Dunmoyer, Senior Vice President of Farmers Insurance Group, says that fire departments who have participated in the program have "found fantastic success in getting the citizens to understand the value of being prepared, doing defensible space, making sure their home is properly protected from the fire." Depending on the success of the 2009 "Before the Threat" campaign, Farmers Insurance plans to expand the program to other fire-prone areas of California, and eventually hope to make it a national program.

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