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Prescribed Fire Liability Insurance. Buman, Thomas*,1, 1 Agren, Inc, Carroll, IA, USA
ABSTRACT- The insurance industry has been reluctant to enter the prescribed fire liability insurance market because it perceives that prescribed fire is risky. This insurance limitation reduces a private contractor's willingness to burn. In cooperation with USDA Risk Management Agency, the Iowa Bureau of Forestry and Agren, Inc. initiated a process to gather the information necessary to develop and rate a draft insurance policy. This is an effort to increase the number of private contractors and non-government organizations (NGOs) who use prescribed fire to reduce wildland fire threats. To gather the necessary data, private contractors and NGOs in eight states were asked to complete a survey about their prescribed fire practices and frequency of escapes. The written surveys were followed by telephone surveys to determine the severity of losses from the escaped prescribed fires that were reported. This draft insurance policy and actuarial data will be made available to insurance companies to encourage them to offer insurance for private contractors who do prescribed fires.
KEY WORDS: Prescribed Fire, Insurance, Liability, Actuarial Data
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