Thankfully the Bighorn Fire is now largely contained and with monsoon rains beginning to arrive it will hopefully be completely out soon. There are two items worth noting now that the fire is nearly extinguished. The first is that most of the Catalina Mountains will be off limits to visitors until November 1st. These trail closures were just announced this week and include the vast majority of the mountain from Oracle Ridge, to Romero Canyon Trail, Linda Vista Trail, all front side Catalina trails (Pima Canyon, Ventana, etc.), into Sabino Canyon, and everything up on Mt. Lemmon. It also includes Catalina Highway up to Summerhaven, except residents are now allowed access. While this is disappointing for many people it’s necessary to allow the area to recover and protect the public from potential landslides, rock slides, downfall, and other debris until after the monsoons.
Speaking of monsoons, that is one of the next major issues that may cause problems in the wake of the fire. Floods can be a real concern now that much of the ground up on the mountain has been burned & cleared of underbrush. Homeowners near the base of the mountain or around washes that feed from the mountain may want to consider flood insurance in case we get large amounts of rainfall that now can come off the mountain at much greater speeds than usual. Often we only think of flood insurance for properties in designated FEMA flood plains, but it’s not unheard of for properties outside of these areas to also potentially flood and cause significant damage. If you’re near the mountain or a wash that sees runoff usually it’s worth reaching out to an insurance company to check into the issue in the aftermath of the Bighorn Fire.
Here is a follow up from our favorite neighborhood insurance agent, Don Cox with Farmer’s Insurance:
I have been doing a lot of flood quotes so I wanted to share with you my primary resource for helping folks understand their risk.
https://floodfactor.com
The area of the site I like best is the third subsection, “Flood Risk Explorer” with the colorful map.
A couple other things- normally flood insurance has a 30-day waiting period. If the flood originates in the burn scar, the claims adjuster can waive that as long as the policy is purchased within 60 days of the date of 100% containment.
The National Flood Insurance Program offers pre-packaged policies for building and contents. For example, $100,000 of building coverage with $40,000 of contents coverage is $399 for the year. $50,000/$20,000 is $308. (Only applies to primary residence- if it’s a secondary or rental, the premiums are higher.) For our friends who are renting, there are contents-only options as well- $12,000 at $139 for the year would be a common example.
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