Forest fire danger alert – is your forest insured?
Sarah Stewart, Western Forestry Co-op Forest Owners
THE sun has arrived at long last and whilst it is very welcome, it is also a time when forest owners need to be extremely vigilant with regard to fire risk and uncontrolled burning. A few dry days can dry out vegetation very quickly and the risk of forest fires increases dramatically. The main causes of forest fires over the past 5 years has been gorse and peatland burning, accidental fires and arson. Forest owners need to be very vigilant and make sure their forest is insured as you are required by law to replant your forest if it is burnt and one of the largest costs will be the replanting costs.
Western Forestry Co-op administers a low cost group forest insurance scheme for forest owners. We are de- lighted to say that last year we greatly improved our forest insurance scheme by securing better cover for your forest and also providing a discounted renewal premium, possibly the only insurance that provided a discounted premium last year. Our forest insurance scheme provides covers for fire, lightning, explosion, storm up to 55 years, replanting costs, fire brigade cover and additional cover for damage to gates, stiles, fences, roads, felled timber etc all at no extra cost to the forest owner and a ZERO policy excess on a fire claim and a reduced ex- cess to €1,000 on a storm claim.
What you are insured for includes:
Reconstitution (replanting costs up to €3,500/ha)
Loss of Value (timber revenue)
Fire Brigade Charges (up to €220k per policy)
Public Liability (optional) For example if you planted 8 ha in 2007 and 4 ha of it burnt, you are covered for the cost of replanting (up to €14,000), compensation for loss of growth on your 11 year old forest (approx €15,000 lump sum) and fire brigade charges up to €220,000 per policy. The premium for this for the year is approx €110. For an insurance quote or for more information, please call Sarah on 071-9161458.