Protecting Your Farm From Wildfire

Protecting Your Farm From Wildfire

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Wildfire season is upon us in Central Washington where crews have already battled several blazes, and being ready for the next one is a top priority.

Mutual of Enumclaw farm territory manager, Marcus Williams says protecting your farm is a much different mentality than your typical homeowner ...

MARCUS WILLIAMS ... "The farmer is going to have multiple assets, bit assets, expensive assets, and they're also going to have the asset of an employee most of the time. That might range from one hired hand to a fleet of employees and you are responsible for them as well too. And so, the major thing you can do as far as protecting your farm is making sure that everybody who works for you knows the wildfire severity zone that they're in, that they have an action plan, the numbers who to call if a wildfire alert goes out, whether or not they are to come into work and report and help mitigate, move equipment and that sort of thing, or if they're to stay home and protect their own families."

Williams says having a plan of action helps us keep our cool when the heat is on ...

MARCUS WILLIAMS ... "The biggest thing to remember is that there is going to be a sense of chaos during this and it's not going to be, 'okay we've got this calm, collected, let's do this.' You know, when a wildfire comes through, it's going to be very scary and so if you can plan this out ahead of time I think it's just going to make that whole process much easier and much more beneficial."

Williams encourages all farmers to walk their property and take inventory of those expensive assets and make sure they're all covered in the event of loss.

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