Insuring Wildland Fire Contractors 2022

Each year, several thousand wildland fire contractors embark selflessly into the woods throughout the country to protect and serve the homes and communities affected by wildfire. From boots-on-the-ground to airtanker drops overhead, wildland fire contractors are answering the call. And Bancorp is here to ensure they are ready to go when it comes in.

Insuring Wildland Fire Contractors – Listen to the Podcast

Independent wildland fire contractors are hired by BLM, Oregon Department of Forestry, US Forest Service and other agencies to contain and extinguish wildland fires. These contractors include hand crews, helitack helicopter or rappel crews, hotshot crews, engine crews, equipment operators, smokejumpers, dispatchers, mobile caterers, portable shower and bathroom contractors, water tankers, camp crews and many more.

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Fire Camp

Camping is part of the job for wildland fire contractors as they need to be near the fire at all times. A proper fire camp will house firefighters, support staff and other experts who are all working to contain the fire. A wildland fire camp will typically house communications, medical, safety and mapping personnel as well.

Every fire assignment is different, but life at fire camp is relatively the same. In a matter of a few hours, camp crew’s setup everything from food to porta potties, fuel to showers and everything necessary to live while wildland fire contractors fight the fire.

Fires don’t run in shifts and therefore neither does the crew. Mobile caterers prepare and package large meals daily for the crew to pack and eat throughout their day. Wildland firefighters are held to certain eating and health guidelines in order to maintain their strength in the field.

The fire camp is the heart of the operation. It is where the equipment is housed, the crew eats, showers and sleeps. But, if your job is to assist people who are putting the fire out, you’ve got to get close to the fire. Which makes insuring these wildland fire contractors a very specific line of insurance.

The Challenges of Insuring Wildland Fire Contractors

The challenge in insuring wildland fire contractors is that most insurance underwriters want to insure the kind of businesses that will skedaddle out of there and go and be gone when a fire occurs. Not necessarily be the kind of business that heads towards the fire.

The risk involved in providing insurance on the expensive equipment, vehicles, hoses, chainsaws, gear, not to mention the crew…is a huge risk!

Fortunately, at Bancorp Insurance, we actually know the right people that want to insure wildland fire contractors. We insure more of these kinds of contractors than anyone else. While it’s still not easy, we make it happen. We can write the general liability, autos, all of the equipment and tools right down to the D9 Caterpillars that literally drive right into the fire.

We insure the caterers that feed the guys, the Porta Potty contractors, even the guys who come in and set up WiFi.

Is your business insured properly?

Photo Credit from Unsplash – billy-freeman-koRmF1nz8iw-unsplash

This is a very specialized form of insurance that Bancorp Insurance does. We’re very good at it. One of the reasons we offer these comprehensive insurance programs for wildland fire contractors, is because we know they are hard to find, and we want to help. We find that it’s quite gratifying for us to be able to help contractors who are in this situation to get their insurance.