{"id":63573,"date":"2020-06-11T10:41:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T16:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/krtnradio.com\/?p=63573"},"modified":"2020-06-11T10:41:44","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T16:41:44","slug":"superintendent-of-insurance-reminds-new-mexicans-to-prepare-for-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/2020\/06\/11\/superintendent-of-insurance-reminds-new-mexicans-to-prepare-for-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Superintendent of Insurance Reminds New Mexicans to Prepare for Wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

The time to get your property insurance is BEFORE the fire happens!!!!\u00a0 Insurance companies often create \u201cmoratoriums\u201d once a wildfire starts and new policies and coverage increases are not allowed until after the fire is contained and the \u201cmoratorium\u201d lifted.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nJune 10, 2020
\nContact: Melissa Gutierrez
\nEmail: Melissa.gutierrez@state.nm.us
\nSUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE REMINDS NEW MEXICANS
\nTO PREPARE FOR WILDFIRES
\nNew Mexico Superintendent of Insurance Russell Toal is reminding New Mexicans that the wildfire
\nseason is upon us. We all need to do our part to minimize the risk of wildfires. This is the time to make
\nsure your insurance is sufficient and up-to-date, to prepare your property, practice fire prevention, and
\nhave a plan if evacuation is necessary.<\/p>\n

INSURANCE<\/strong><\/em>
\nYour homeowners’ or renter’s insurance policy should be reviewed now to ensure that you have adequate
\ncoverage for your property and personal belongings. You can use the NAIC\u2019s Consumer\u2019s Guide to
\nHome Insurance or Guide to Renter’s Insurance to help make decisions about which policy works best
\nfor you. We also encourage you to contact your insurance broker or agent if you have any questions or
\nneed to update your policy.
\nFiling a claim and replacing all belongings will be easier if you have a home inventory. We encourage you
\nto take photos or a video of each room and of important or expensive items, as this will help your insurer
\nquickly process a claim. You can save these videos or photos to the cloud for easy retrieval.<\/p>\n

DEFENSIBLE SPACE AND FIRE-RESISTANT MATERIALS<\/strong><\/em>
\nYour goal now, before a fire happens, is to make your home or business and the surrounding area more
\nresistant to catching fire and burning. This means reducing the amount of material that can burn easily
\nin and around your home or business by clearing away debris and other flammable materials, moving
\nfirewood away from your home and any other structures and using fire-resistant materials for
\nlandscaping and construction.<\/p>\n

Practice fire prevention<\/strong><\/em>
\n– Use caution any time you use fire. Dispose of charcoal briquettes and fireplace ashes properly, never
\nleave any outdoor fire unattended and make sure that outdoor fires are fully extinguished and cold to
\nthe touch before leaving the area.
\n– Do not use welders or any equipment that creates sparks outside on dry, windy days.
\n– Do not park vehicles in tall, dry grass if a fire weather watch or fire weather\/red flag warning has been
\nissued. Exhaust systems are very hot and can ignite dry grass.
\n– Store combustible or flammable materials in approved safety containers away from the house.
\n– Keep a gas grill and propane tank at least 15 feet away from any structure. Clear a 15-foot area around
\nthe grill. Do not use the grill during potentially dangerous fire weather conditions.
\n– Always have a fire extinguisher and functional water hose nearby.
\n– Learn how you and your family can prevent a wildfire by using fire and equipment responsibly at
\nwww.SmokeyBear.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EMERGENCY EVACUATION<\/strong><\/em>
\nTo ensure you will be able to act quickly should you need to evacuate, you need to plan. Prepare and
\nregularly review your evacuation plan, share it with family and friends, and be sure to have emergency
\ncontact numbers readily available to you.<\/p>\n

Evacuation routes; plan your transportation and a place to stay<\/strong><\/em>.
\n– Know your community\u2019s local evacuation plan and identify several escape routes from your location
\nin case roads are blocked. Include plans to evacuate people with disabilities and others with access or
\nfunctional needs, as well as pets, service animals, and livestock.
\n– If you will evacuate by car, keep your car fueled and in good condition.
\n– If you will need to share transportation, make arrangements now. If you will need to use public
\ntransportation, including paratransit, contact your local government emergency management agency
\nto ask how an evacuation will work, how you will get current information during an evacuation, the
\nlocation of staging areas, and other information.
\n– If you need to relocate for an extended period of time, identify a place away from home where you
\ncould go if you had to leave. Consider family or friends who live outside of the local area.
\n– If you expect to go to a shelter after evacuating, download the American Red Cross Shelter Finder
\nApp at www.redcross.org\/mobile-apps\/shelter-finder-app<\/a>. This app displays a map of all open
\nAmerican Red Cross shelters and provides the capacity and the current population of each shelter. You
\ncan also text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area.
\n– Have a Battery-Powered Weather Radio available. If electricity is out and cell towers are down, this
\nwill be your only way to know what is happening.<\/p>\n

Essential items for an emergency supply kit<\/strong><\/em>:
\n\uf0b7 Cash: If the power goes out, credit cards won\u2019t work. Keep some cash on hand for replenishing
\nsupplies.
\n\uf0b7 Medications: Pharmacies might be closed, and hospitals could be overwhelmed. Keep a
\nbackup supply (at least several days\u2019 worth) of important medications like blood
\npressure medicine and insulin.
\n\uf0b7 A Gallon of Water for Every Family Member and Pet: Widespread power outages could
\nmake tap water unsafe to drink.
\n\uf0b7 Important Documents: Social Security cards, passports, birth certificates, driver\u2019s licenses, and more could all be lost or destroyed in a fire. Keep copies of these documents in a fireproof
\ncontainer and make it part of your emergency supply kit. Include a copy of your insurance policy
\nso that you can quickly file a claim once the danger has passed.
\n\uf0b7 A Change of Clothes: If you are away from your home for a few days, you will want to have a
\nchange of clothes.
\nAlways keep a good pair of shoes and a flashlight near your bed and handy in the event of a sudden
\nevacuation at night.
\nPlease visit “Ready, Set, Go!”<\/a> for additional information and resources. Taking action now can prevent a
\ncatastrophe later!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The time to get your property insurance is BEFORE the fire happens!!!!\u00a0 Insurance companies often create \u201cmoratoriums\u201d once a wildfire starts and new policies and coverage increases are not allowed until after the fire is contained and the \u201cmoratorium\u201d lifted.\u00a0 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 10, 2020 Contact: Melissa Gutierrez Email:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":63574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-small-business-advertisers","entry","rows-excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63575,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63573\/revisions\/63575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}