{"id":20071,"date":"2019-09-16T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/?guid=d64b7c012f5238774dbfd7ba6b2d4c42"},"modified":"2019-09-16T15:18:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:18:32","slug":"4-steps-to-help-you-plan-for-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/4-steps-to-help-you-plan-for-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"4 steps to help you plan for wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(BPT) &#8211; Wildfires and other disasters can be challenging because you rarely get enough warning to develop a plan to protect your family and minimize property damage, much less execute that plan. Thinking ahead can make all the difference &mdash; increasing your family&rsquo;s personal protection and minimizing property damage and financial impact.<\/p>\n<p>Four steps that can help:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\" type=\"1\">\n<li><strong>Prepare your family, whether you are at home or traveling: <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Establish a family communication and evacuation plan that includes a remote meeting place in case you&rsquo;re separated.<\/li>\n<li>Stock an emergency kit with essentials and must-haves.<\/li>\n<li>Sign up your primary phone for Reverse 911 notifications so you can receive up-to-the-minute catastrophe bulletins and instructions. Contact your local police or fire department to inquire whether the service is available in your area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\" type=\"1\">\n<li><strong>Protect your finances:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Review your insurance policies annually (or more frequently when major life changes occur) to ensure you have the right type and amount of coverage.<\/li>\n<li>Establish an emergency fund. Try for three to six months of living expenses, if possible.<\/li>\n<li>Store important documents on a secure Internet site or in a safe-deposit box that requires an ID and key.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\" type=\"1\">\n<li><strong>Ready your home:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Create a fire-free zone by trimming branches near the structure. Also clear leaves, debris and dead trees, and keep your grass mowed.<\/li>\n<li>Properly store flammable materials and fuels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\" type=\"1\">\n<li><strong>Access community help:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Join or form a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.firewise.org\/about.aspx\"  rel=\"noopener\">Firewise Community Program<\/a> in your neighborhood.<\/li>\n<li>Get involved in community wildfire mitigation projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more information on preparing for wildfires, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaa.com\/inet\/wc\/advice_post_cat_assistance_wildfire?adID=VURL_wildfirehelp\"  rel=\"nofollow noopener\">USAA.com\/WildfireHelp<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/www.brandpointcontent.com\/printsite\/ImageWriter.ashx?articleid=34920&#038;memberid=43677' border='0' width='1' height='1' \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(BPT) &#8211; Wildfires and other disasters can be challenging because you rarely get enough warning to develop a plan to protect your family and minimize property damage, much less execute that plan. Thinking ahead can make all the difference &mdash; increa&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diy","category-home-improvement-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}