Showing Up for Santa Fe
ALERTCalifornia, operated through UC San Diego, uses AI-powered wildfire cameras connected to local fire departments. Crews remotely pan, tilt, and zoom to assess smoke quickly. New Mexico has three nonprofit-funded cameras, already detecting two lightning-caused fires. Ned urges Santa Fe residents to support state funding and expand camera network statewide.
Three Cameras, Paid For by Neighbours
A fire caught in its first minutes is a very different event from one caught in its first hour. New Mexico has three early-warning cameras watching for that first minute, and every one of them exists because local citizens and non-profits raised the money, landowners opened their gates, and the community put them up without waiting to be asked.
AI Cameras That Spot Smoke Before Anyone Calls It In
ALERTCalifornia, run out of UC San Diego, operates a network of AI-monitored wildfire cameras tied directly to local fire departments. Crews can pan, tilt, and zoom to size up a smoke report in seconds instead of driving out to confirm it.
New Mexico has three of these cameras today, and none of them was funded by the state. Local citizens and non-profits pooled the money, landowners donated the access, and the cameras were installed as a demonstration project, to show the government and the public that this technology is both wanted and needed.
The cameras are already proving their value. One of the New Mexico cameras recently spotted two lightning-caused fires in a single day and helped federal fire authorities extinguish them before they became crown fires.
Three cameras are enough to prove the case, but nowhere near enough to cover the state. Ned has been asking Santa Fe residents to contact their legislators and support real state funding, with the Roundhouse session opening in January.
See how the network worksEarly-warning cameras already operating across California, linked to local fire departments.
Cameras covering New Mexico, every one of them put up by citizens and non-profits rather than the state.
January at the Roundhouse
Funding a statewide camera network takes a bill and a budget line. Contact your New Mexico legislator and tell them you want it in this session.
Why an Insurance Agency Cares About Cameras
Because the cheapest claim is the one nobody files. Detection buys evacuation time, containment keeps acreage down, and a state that demonstrably manages its fire risk is a state where carriers keep writing policies. Prevention and insurability are the same conversation.
Four Things Worth Doing Before Next Fire Season
All four are free or funded. None of them require you to be our client.
Claim the Mitigation Funding
The City of Santa Fe and the county are running hazard mitigation services for homeowners with roughly $10 million in funding behind it. Applications are open now, and most people in town have never heard of it.
Know your wildfire riskHarden Against Embers, Not Flames
Research from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety points to wind-blown embers, not the flame front, as the leading cause of home ignition. Class A roofing, ember-resistant vents, enclosed eaves, and a noncombustible strip in the first five feet do more than any single product.
Ask the Insurability Question
Most homeowners ask what will lower the premium. The sharper question in a wildfire county is whether the home stays insurable at all. Mitigation is increasingly what separates a property that is merely exposed from one that is actively reducing its risk.
Get the Policy Read Out Loud
Bring us what you have, from any carrier. We will read the wildfire and roof language with you and tell you plainly what it would pay. Free, no obligation, walk in or by appointment.
See wildfire coverageNew Mexico's 2026 fire season, in the state's own numbers
The New Mexico Forestry Division reported 524 wildfires statewide by early July, well above its five-year average of 321 for that point in the year. Even so, 73% were controlled before reaching 10 acres and only 2% grew past 1,000 acres. That gap between ignitions and catastrophes is what fast detection and prepared crews actually buy you.
Figures as reported by the New Mexico Forestry Division.
Teaching Fire Before It Teaches You
The best wildfire outcome is a generation that grew up understanding fire. We support the organisations doing that teaching here in Santa Fe.
Fire Adapted New Mexico, run from Santa Fe
The Forest Stewards Guild is one of the eight local organisations this agency backs, and it runs the Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network out of an office on Warner Circle, a few minutes from ours.
FACNM builds the wildfire education that New Mexico classrooms actually use: place-based science units, hands-on curriculum trunks, activity books for younger children, and a trauma-informed toolkit for teachers working with families who have lived through a fire. Much of it exists in Spanish as well as English.
We are an insurance agency, so our part is straightforward. We fund the Guild, we point people at the material, and we keep saying the same thing: the cheapest claim is the one nobody has to file.
- Fire Ecology Learning Lab. A place-based middle school science unit with modules for K–2 through high school, plus a full teacher portal
- FireWorks. Hands-on K–12 curriculum with lab materials and specimens, much of it translated into Spanish
- FAC Facts: Southwestern Fire Ecology. A children's booklet on the five ecosystem types of New Mexico and the role fire plays in each
- Trauma-Informed Toolkit. For teachers handling wildfire with children who have already lived through one
Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition
Ned sits in with the coalition's partner meetings, alongside the Santa Fe County Fire Department, land managers, and researchers working the same watershed.
Why an Agent Is in the Room
The Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition brings together the agencies, non-profits, and landowners responsible for the forest above the city. Fuel treatment, prescribed fire, watershed protection, and community preparedness all get worked out across the same table.
Insurance is downstream of every one of those decisions. When treatment happens, exposure drops. When exposure drops, homes stay insurable. Being in the room means we hear what is coming before it reaches a renewal notice, and the coalition hears what the carriers are actually reacting to.
- Partner updates with Santa Fe County Fire Department and land managers
- Fuel treatment and prescribed fire planning across the fireshed
- Community preparedness that feeds straight into property insurability
The Santa Fe Building Season
Most of what we insure gets built, remodelled, or bought during these months. The Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association has served the trade across seven Northern New Mexico counties since 1992.
| Event | When | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Haciendas Parade of Homes | First two weekends of August, 11am–5pm | The region's luxury home showcase |
| Remodelers Showcase | Spring edition | Eleven builders, designers and architects, published with the Santa Fe New Mexican in Haciendas Magazine |
| Member mixers & education | Year round | Across Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Taos and Rio Arriba |
| Annual LEGO contest | Annual | The association's family event for the next generation of builders |
Dates as published by SFAHBA. Check their calendar for the current year.
Bring Us the Policy, Not Just the Question
Walk in Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, or call and we will set the time aside. Free, no obligation, and you will be talking to a Jacobs.