Search Results for: Fires

By Lorie Ham

On top of everything else going on in 2020, California has been besieged by wildfires, and this fire season has shattered records. Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) has been helping people affected by fires and other disasters for many years.

Founded 70 years ago, MDS is a volunteer network of Mennonite, Amish, Brethren in Christ, and other Anabaptist churches dedicated to responding to natural and man-made disasters in Canada and the United States. “Our aim is to assist the most vulnerable community members, individuals, and families who would not otherwise have the means to recover,” states Steve Wiest, Regional Operations Coordinator for Region 4.

When asked about the recent Creek Fire, Steve states even before it was fully contained MDS volunteers were working to find a way to help. “When a disaster is close to where MDS volunteers live the response is natural and appropriate because of personal connections. When we don’t live near by we usually wait for the local officials to invite us in.”

One thing that Steve feels MDS does well is rebuilding complete new homes after a disaster. “Many MDS volunteers come from the building trades and farming and those folks come with good skills. Whatever skills a volunteer will bring, there will be a place for them to make a meaningful contribution to the project. If the disaster survivor owns the property and if there is money for materials, subs and permits, then MDS will provide free labor to build the house. If they have insurance, they usually don’t need our help.”

A home that MDS rebuilt in Lake Isabella east of Bakersfield came with some added excitement. “As we worked on the second house we watched airplanes diving from the sky to drop fire retardant in the direction of the first home we had just finished. A fire was threatening the new house and had started less than a half mile from the house we had just finished. The next day I asked the homeowner if he had fire insurance and he did not. He said he could not find any. I called Jerry Linscheid and Jerry pointed me in the right direction to help get insurance. I was able to tell the homeowner that the new house was built with the latest California building codes and was much more fire resistant than the old house.”

The goal of MDS is to build homes that will withstand the next disaster, when possible.

The current building code has a section called WUI, Interface.” This is to make the house resistant to wildfire, but the main goal is to give occupants time to get out of the house,” continues Steve. “To make a house be able to survive a fire is a very tall order. The exterior construction is aiming to survive a 20 minute exposure to fire. To increase that to one hour could raise the cost of a 1,000 square foot house by nearly $100,000. The methods and materials of construction is only part of the plan. Keeping flammable material away from the house is just as important. Trees, shrubs, and landscape that allows fire to jump from fire source to fire source invites disaster. We have even seen that the patio furniture can be an ignition point.”

Equally important to MDS as getting people back into their homes, is the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of the disaster victims. Steve says that their volunteers are encouraged to put down their tools and visit with the homeowners, encouraging them to tell their story as they just listen. “The homeowners that we are building for are invited to have dinner with the group and tell their story. By telling their story, it helps them to heal. When they tell their story over and over again, we can see the healing take place.”

MDS is also involved in helping to prevent fires. In one instance, volunteers went to Camp Keola at Huntington Lake to remove dead trees and fuel from the forest floor. The camp is owned by the MC-USA Mennonite Conference and serves many children with disabilities. “Dozens of MDS volunteers spent a week in the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019,” shares Steve. “The camp survived the fire because the fire fighters made a decision to protect that section of the fire line and that was possible because of the new water system the camp had installed. It is possible that the lower fire risk of having the reduced fuel on the camp grounds helped save the camp.”

To learn more about MDS and see how you might be able to help them with their work, check out their website. If you would like to learn more about fire insurance, please give us a call 559-638-2327.

Cleaning dirt, pollen and debris off your solar panels helps them run more efficiently and boosts their overall energy production. And that increase – even if it’s just a few percentage points – saves you some money in the long run.

Last year, HESOLAR owners Eric and Derrick Hoffman let a 4-kilowatt solar panel installation their company set up in Austin get covered in dirt to see what impact cleaning solar panels has on their function¹. They cleaned half this installation with a soft rag and water and let the other half stay dirty for the course of their experiment.

The dirty solar panels yielded 3.5 percent less energy than the ones the Hoffman brothers had cleaned according to their website. That comes to a loss of about 17 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month based on the installation’s size and its location².

People in Fresno would see a slightly larger energy loss each month due to dirty solar panels – about 19 kilowatt hours a month — because the San Joaquin Valley gets more solar radiation than Austin. That comes to about $3 in lost energy savings each month given PG&E’s current residential rates.

It’s also important to note that Austin gets about three times the amount of rain that Fresno does each year. Fresno also experienced a lot of smoke from area wildfires.  These two factors mean your solar panels are probably collecting a lot more dirt than the Hoffman brother’s array.

They’re producing less electricity and that’s just costing you money. Mennonite Insurance’s staff members have seen a noticeable increase in energy production after cleaning their solar panels and wanted to pass that tip, along with the savings it could yield, on to you.

Thinking about putting solar panels on your home? Call Mennonite Insurance today at 559-638-2327 or e-mail [email protected] to find out how these devices could impact your homeowner’s insurance rates and make sure your investment is protected.

Sources:

1. “Dirty Solar Panels: Should you clean them?.” HESOLAR
2. Kilowatt-hour production for Austin and Fresno calculated with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s PVWatts Calculator

More than 35,000 people fled their homes last month to escape the Carr Fire as the wind-driven blaze swept across a 172-square-mile area along Redding’s western edge. State officials ordered another 19,000 people to leave their homes July 30 as the River Fire and the Ranch Fire started making their way toward Clear Lake¹.

Fires like these are becoming more common as extreme weather conditions have transformed the state’s grasslands and forests into a tinderbox of dense and dry vegetation². Therefore, it’s important to make sure your family knows what to do should the area surrounding your home catch on fire and you must evacuate at a moment’s notice. Here’s a quick guide courtesy of Cal Fire³:

• Pick a safe location outside your home’s immediate area where your family can meet and practice driving there via several different routes in case the easiest, most direct path to this meetup location is blocked by the fire or emergency vehicle traffic.
• Make sure everyone in the house knows how to turn off its utilities and how to get your pets or large animals – horses, cows, etc. – to safety in case your family gets separated by the fire or emergency vehicle traffic.
• Record this information on a “Family Communication Plan” along with the phone number of an emergency contact who lives outside your area but could still guide people to your meetup point or another safe location.
• Assemble an emergency supply kit containing non-perishable food items, pet food, water, copies of your important documents, extra clothing, your medications, a flash light, a first aid kit, sanitation supplies, and a battery-powered radio that you keep in your vehicle, and
• Make sure your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policies are up to date and that you’ve conducted a recent home inventory so that you’ll be ready to file a claim when you return home and have a chance to survey the damage.

Want to learn more ways you can protect your home from a wildfire or house fire and whether your insurance policy could help you recover your losses? Call Mennonite Insurance today at 559-638-2327 or e-mail [email protected].

Sources:

1. “California’s Carr Fire, Now the Size of Denver, Becomes 7th Most Destructive Wildfire in State History,” The Weather Channel
2. “Six of California’s Most Destructive Wildfires Have Struck in the Past 10 Months,” The Weather Channel
3. “Prepare for Wildfire,” Cal Fire
4. Photo Credit: Sacramento Bee