With the warmer weather comes the dryer air. Not only does this affect your allergies, it also can affect the fire danger and severe weather alerts we get. Luckily every severe weather alert does not guarantee a bad storm or a fire, but it does mean that the danger of either of these is very high.

Here in Colorado Springs you can easily find any information about the weather alerts in the area including the fire danger level. It is listed on all the news station’s websites as well as on the local government websites.

This doesn’t mean life or business has to stop but it is always best to prepare for such an occasion. Colorado Springs residents are all too familiar with the damage a wildfire can do to the community and local businesses.

There are some ways to prepare for such alerts and be ready to evacuate your business if the event occurs. This is the worst case scenario of course and we all hope that it never comes to that, but better to be prepared.

Here’s what we suggest you do:

• Create and have on-hand an emergency contact list. Make sure the list has all emergency number including 9-1-1, the fire department, police department, the power company, and your insurance company. Also make sure this list has anyone else’s number that you would need to call in case of an evacuation, including employees, other managers/owners, etc. It is better to have a much more inclusive list than realize you missed someone.
• Have an evacuation kit. Make sure that you have a container or bag that you can hurry to put important business belongings in. Having travel bins for files and such handy items will help transportation become much easier for you.
• Have a back-up of all of your important business files. Keeping these on an external hard drive will allow you to grab it (or store it outside of the business location) and have all of your business information at-hand.
• Keep an eye out. Watch these fire alerts and the areas in which they are the highest. This will help you to know where the danger is and where it can go should a wildfire ignite.

We at Southern Colorado Insurance Center want to make sure that you have all of the necessary information to keep your small business and employees safe and prepared. We hope that your business stays safe if the case of a large wildfire occurs again but if it becomes damaged, we can help you be better prepared. While there are some loans and federal programs that can assist in the reconstruction of your damaged business in the case of a large disaster, it is not a good idea to rely on these programs.

Southern Colorado Insurance Center can help you insure your company with the proper policies to keep you well-covered and prepared. To see what all Southern Colorado Insurance Center can do for you, give Debbie a call at (719) 329-4441 or email her at youarefirst [at] scicteam [dot] com.