WRITE OF CENTER
Builders, developers, insurers, real estate professionals, land managers and landscapers have the opportunity to help shape a more fire-resilient — and insurable — Kendall County.
As Kendall County grows, more homes and neighborhoods are being built in the wildland-urban interface, the area where homes and development meet or intermingle with undeveloped vegetation.
At the same time, wildfire risk is creating another growing concern for some residents: difficulty maintaining affordable homeowners insurance and, in some cases, receiving notices that their policies will not be renewed.
These challenges are connected and addressing them will require more than firefighters and fire departments.
On Sept/ 30, the Hill Country Fire Coalition of Texas (HCFC) is bringing together builders, insurers, real estate professionals and land managers for “Building a More Fire-Resilient Kendall County: Wildfire Prepared Home Workshop,” from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Boerne City Hall, 447 N. Main St.
The workshop is not simply about wildfire awareness. It is a call to action.
Wildfire is part of the natural environment in which we live. We cannot eliminate drought, high winds, extreme temperatures, lightning or every humancaused ignition. But we can influence what happens when a wildfire reaches a community.
That begins with where and how we build, the materials we use, how structures are designed, and how we landscape and maintain the property surrounding them.
Research into home ignitions has increasingly focused attention on the structure itself and the immediate area around it, particularly vulnerabilities to wind-driven embers.
A home does not necessarily have to encounter a wall of flame to be des t royed. Ember s can travel ahead of a wildfire and ignite combustible materials on, under or immediately adjacent to a structure.
That means decisions made long before smoke appears on the horizon can make a meaningful difference.
For builders and developers, wildfire resilience can begin on the drawing board rather than becoming an expensive retrofit years later.
For landscapers and land managers, the placement, type and maintenance of vegetation and combustible materials around a home can influence its vulnerability.
For insurers, measurable risk-reduction standards may provide another tool for evaluating properties. And for real estate professionals, understanding wildfire-resilient construction can help them better inform buyers and sellers.
The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has developed the Wildfire Prepared Home program, which establishes science-based actions intended to reduce a home’s vulnerability to wildfire. That work is particularly relevant as homeowners in wildfire-prone areas confront changing insurance conditions.
For a resident who already owns a home, however, knowing what needs to change is only the beginning. Someone must be able to perform that work.
That is why HCFC especially wants land-management professionals, landscapers, arborists and contractors at the September 30 workshop.
As residents seek to reduce vegetation and combustible materials near their homes, establish appropriate defensible space, address ember vulnerabilities and pursue Wildfire Prepared Home designations, Kendall County needs qualified businesses that understand what wildfire mitigation actually requires.
This represents both a community need and a business opportunity.
Rather than simply removing vegetation, professionals need to understand why particular treatments matter, what should remain, what should be removed or relocated, and how landscaping can remain attractive while reducing wildfire vulnerabilities.
The objective is not to clear the Texas Hill Country of the vegetation that makes it special. The objective is to manage vegetation and other fuels intelligently so that homes and landscapes are better prepared to withstand wildfire.
Insurance professionals are equally important to this conversation.
Mitigation is most powerful when homeowners understand which actions materially reduce risk and insurers have credible, measurable information about those improvements.
The goal should be to create a bridge between wildfire science, construction, mitigation and insurance.
Rather than waiting until a homeowner receives a non-renewal notice, what if builders, developers, homeowners, mitigation professionals and insurers worked together to reduce the property’s risk beforehand?
That is the conversation HCFC wants to begin. Attend the workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Boerne City Hall, 447 N. Main St., and be a part of the
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