Surviving Wildfire — Get Prepared, Stay Alive, Rebuild Your Life (A Handbook for Homeowners)

Every year wildfire destroys thousands of homes, devastates countless lives and burns millions of acres. And every year people who've lost everything say, "We didn't think it would happen to us. If only we'd been better prepared." Now homeowners have a straight-talking handbook to help them get prepared, stay alive and rebuild their lives if disaster strikes. Surviving Wildfire's compelling combination of real-life experience and in-depth research makes it an indispensable tool for anyone living with wildfire risk.CONTENTS Assessing Your Risk; Firewise Building & Remodeling; Defensible Space You Can Live With; Advance Planning (A Pound of Prevention Can Save a Ton of Trouble); Evacuation Essentials (What to Take, When to Leave, How to Escape); Insurance (How Much You Need, What It Covers, How It Works); Filing a Claim (Insider Tips & Tactics); Recovery (Picking Up Your Pieces & Starting Over); Our Story; plus an Appendix with further resources for homeowners.

Award-winning author and researcher Linda Masterson tackles a subject she knows all too well in Surviving Wildfire: Get Prepared, Stay Alive, Rebuild Your Life (A Handbook for Homeowners). Masterson's home burned to the ground in a Colorado wildfire in 2011, leaving her with little but her laptop and a fierce determination to get back on her feet and get on with her life. Masterson has always specialized in turning the complex into the comprehensible. In her job as director of Strategic Planning for Ketchum Communications she provided insight and direction to clients ranging from Procter & Gamble to Campbell Soup. As an award-winning author her work has appeared in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Log Homes Illustrated, Countryside, New Pioneer, Animal Kingdom and many more. Her handbook, Living with Bears: A Practical Guide to Bear Country, has become the book of choice for bear professionals and homeowners alike. Linda is a partner in Phillips Group, a marketing and communications firm, and now lives in her new home north of Fort Collins with her husband Cory Phillips.