{"id":160745,"date":"2026-02-19T03:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T03:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/160745\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T03:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T03:27:08","slug":"as-wildfire-risk-grows-what-florida-homeowners-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/160745\/","title":{"rendered":"As wildfire risk grows, what Florida homeowners should know"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA \u2014 As extreme drought conditions grip much of Florida, wildfire risk is rising, and experts say homeowners should take steps now to reduce the chances of losing their homes.<\/p>\n

At the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety,<\/a> researchers routinely conduct large-scale experiments to understand how homes and buildings respond to extreme hazards, including fire. The research is designed to show how fires spread, how embers ignite structures and what measures can reduce damage.<\/p>\n

Recent fires have threatened homes across the state, most recently in North Port last week.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch Fox 4’s Alex Orenczuk report on how Southwest Florida homeowners can protect their homes from wildfires:<\/p>\n

With wildfire risks rising, experts say simple steps can protect Florida homes<\/p>\n

\u201cWildfires are an inevitable occurrence,\u201d said Steve Hawks, senior director for wildfire at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety.<\/p>\n

Hawks said drought conditions combined with wind can allow fires to spread quickly into neighborhoods, but homeowners are not powerless.<\/p>\n

\"fire2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

IBHS.<\/p>\n

IBHS researchers test how building structures perform when exposed to fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo really looking at that first five feet out from the walls of the house and removing combustible items. That\u2019s a particularly vulnerable area for the wildfire. And when you have something that ignites right next to the house, even a small fire can lead to the loss of the house,\u201d Hawks said.<\/p>\n

That space immediately surrounding a home is known as the defensible space. Removing items that can burn, like mulch, fencing, furniture or debris helps reduce the risk that embers or flames ignite the structure.<\/p>\n

Hawks also said the materials used to build a home can play a major role in whether it survives a wildfire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incorporating the more resilient building materials, like non-combustible siding and a Class A fire rated roof material and enclosing the eaves that really give the home the best chance of survival,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Insurance experts say wildfire damage is typically covered under most homeowners\u2019 policies in Florida, but coverage details still matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of wildfire, your property insurance, your wind policy covers wildfire,\u201d said Lisa Miller, Florida\u2019s former deputy insurance commissioner and a consultant on property insurance and disaster recovery.<\/p>\n

Still, she said homeowners should review their policy to make sure they have enough coverage to rebuild if their home is destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your house burns to the ground, do you have enough to replace it?\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

\"fire3.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Fox 4.<\/p>\n

Fire resistant building materials can protect your home, and save you some money on insurance costs.<\/p>\n

Miller added that investing in wildfire mitigation may also lead to savings on insurance costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe insurance companies are strongly looking at how they can provide a premium credit for those that take and invest in wildfire mitigation features,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Both experts stressed that preparation should happen well before a fire starts. For more tips on how to prepare for wildfires, click here to see the IBHS checklist.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHWEST FLORIDA \u2014 As extreme drought conditions grip much of Florida, wildfire risk is rising, and experts say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[513,17573,209,263,211,210,525,524,1292,855,76973,6641,532],"class_list":["post-160745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-beach","tag-bing-news","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-florida","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-drought","tag-dry","tag-facebook","tag-fire","tag-fire-protection","tag-flood-insurance","tag-florida-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}