Fire-Bombing Drones Keep Firefighters Safe in Prescribed Burns

Link: https://www.govtech.com/products/fire-bombing-drones-keep-firefighters-safe-in-prescribed-burns?utm_campaign=Newsletter%20-%20GT%20-%20GovTech%20Today&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=262543864&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9cKiMnR5SEZ5LqjD0xlm7Y2UK9bJ3ek7riTeox-rO11Qok9nthGAZcnV5pUb69I1cdyNZPSe3oYfVk4axtFufocifCEO_-bvzdCk7Kpuz8TuK7dhw&utm_content=262544854&utm_source=hs_email

Excerpt:

Prescribed burns are a proven way to reduce the impact of destructive wildfires, but they still come with risks to the firefighters who carry them out. That was the impetus behind a project from the National Science Foundation’s National Research Traineeship (NRT) program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) that uses a drone to drop fireballs to ignite prescribed burns, keeping firefighters out of harm’s way.

Publication Date: Jun 2023

Publication Site: govTech

“What If I Can’t Insure My Home At All?”

Link:https://www.dailyposter.com/what-if-i-cant-insure-my-home-at-all/

Excerpt:

Insurance giants Chubb, Liberty Mutual, and AIG are three of the biggest insurers of fossil fuel infrastructure around the world. But the companies have just announced plans to scale back their homeowner coverage in California, where they insist future climate-related losses will likely prevent them from turning a profit.

The coverage withdrawals may soon ignite a big money battle in the state’s legislature, pitting insurance giants against lawmakers trying to preserve coverage for their constituents. Meanwhile, climate campaigners are decrying what they say is a fundamental hypocrisy.

…..

Last year, Chubb’s chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg said the company was reducing its coverage in parts of the state that were “both highly exposed, and even moderately exposed, to wildfire” because it was unable to obtain an “adequate price for the risk, and not by a small amount” due to both the costs of wildfires and California’s regulatory climate.

…..

A main solution proposed by industry is that they be allowed to use “catastrophic modeling,” a method where rates are set based on predictions of future losses, rather than recorded past losses, as is currently the case. All other states allow the use of this technique in at least some cases.

Author(s): Sam Mellins

Publication Date: 7 Feb 2022

Publication Site: The Daily Poster