Since 1990, wildfires have consumed an average of 2.5 million hectares a year across Canada, with around 7,300 fires occurring annually. These fires can ravage communities, destroy buildings and infrastructure, and even claim lives.
In our first episode of When faced with fire, a three part podcast series where we explore Canada’s wildfire risk, Ritch Seely, managing director of consulting solutions within Marsh Advisory Canada, chats with George Fan, who is their lead consultant for natural catastrophe and climate risks. They give context to the rising prevalence of wildfires, explain the basic science behind them, and discuss mitigation strategies you can employ to better protect your business.
Stay tuned for upcoming episodes, where we will discuss the impacts of climate change on wildfire and potential insurance implications, ways to improve your business resilience, and how you can minimize wildfire associated disruptions.
Vice President, Senior Risk Consultant, Marsh Advisory
George Fan is a professional engineer and a senior risk consultant for Marsh Advisory Canada, where he is the lead consultant for natural catastrophe and climate risks. He has over eight years of experience in property loss prevention and flood resilience. To gain further expertise on these topics, George is currently pursuing a master’s degree in climate risk in his spare time.
C.E.T. Managing Director, Consulting Solutions, Marsh Advisory
Ritch is Marsh Advisory Canada’s western region practice leader, where he assists clients in developing customized risk management frameworks that facilitate the identification, assessment, and prioritization of critical property and operational risks. He has over 25 years of risk consulting experience, and he has written thought leadership papers and presented risk management workshops on a wide range of risk topics such as principles of risk management, risk identification techniques, managing contractors, and understanding fire suppression systems.
The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) gives you insight into when and how a wildfire may be approaching your site by providing daily fire weather and fire behavior maps year-round.
FireSmart™ Canada helps you lessen your wildfire risk by offering resources that address common concerns about wildfire in the wildland urban interface.
FM Global provides reports and data sheets that can help you protect and prepare yourself against wildfire risk with recommendations on how to mitigate your exposure.
Although the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) standards for wildland fire management are not publicly available, NFPA’s wildfire division offers many free resources, such as fact sheets and online trainings, which can help you reduce your risks of damage and loss due to wildfire.
