Written by Chuck Ellison
Listowel Branch
Zehr Insurance Brokers Ltd.
I am a person who loves their community. In my professional life, I do this by helping protect people and their property by ensuring that the have the right insurance coverage in place. This includes making sure they have enough liability on their auto insurance, their accident benefits are tailored to their needs or make certain that homes, businesses and farms have adequate amounts of insurance to rebuild and replace belongings.
Outside of my professional life, I also give back to my community in many ways, including coaching kid’s sports, volunteering for community organizations and being a volunteer firefighter. Seven years ago I joined the Minto Fire Department and became one of the more than 30,000 individuals who are dedicated to helping protect our communities and the people who live in them. In Ontario, nearly 19,000 of these fire fighters are volunteers. We put our lives on the line on a regular basis while we are fighting fires, attending motor vehicle accidents and assisting on medical calls. We also go above and beyond to be represent the community, educate on safety and even the classic ‘saving a cat from a tree!’ True story, our Chief has done this!
Seeing the sacrifices on a daily basis that are made by our hero’s and heroine’s as we work to protect our community, I wanted to find another way to say thank you and offer something that would help them in return. So, members of the Zehr insurance team and I worked to create some unique insurance programs to help protect the people who protect us!
Insurance protection for the Heroes’ & Heroines’ without capes!
We have developed three separate offerings to meet the varying needs of this diverse group of individuals.
The first is the program known as our F.A.R.M.S. program: Firefighters Agriculture Risk Management Solutions.
This program was created for those that spend their days on the farm milking the cows, feeding the pigs, bedding the livestock and many more things that are a part of their everyday lives. Growing up on a family farm, and still to this day being considered “Cheap Labour” when my dad needs an extra set of hands, I know that a farmer’s job is never done. This program is designed with that in mind. What if you were on a call, and you got injured? Who is going to milk the cows, feed the pigs work the land? We thought of that. You have a great claims history…. shouldn’t you be rewarded for that? We think so too!
Here is just a few of the main highlights that we provided in our F.A.R.M.S. program:
- Blanket Farm Machinery- $50,000
- For the extras that you have that are not listed
- Accident Recovery Plan
- $25,000 or $50,000 Death & Dismemberment’
- $4,000 or $8,000 Labour Replacement
- 20 Additional Coverages at $100,000 Aggregate Limit
- In simple terms it has a bunch of extra coverages – a “catchall” if you will
- Preferred Pricing
- Giving us the ability to get you better pricing
- Risk Management
- An added bonus to help the fire trucks from potentially turning in your laneway
- Extra Claims Experience Discount of +5% after 3 years
- Having exceptional claims record you will be rewarded with an addition 5% on top of your already existing claims free discount
- Additional coverage options (earnings insurance, data compromise, cyber one coverage, boiler & machinery/equipment breakdown & overland flood protection)
These are just a few key coverages our custom program as been designed to include, making this a starting point on our program; and the savings can be dramatic. Most importantly, making sure that you have the right coverage to protect your assets and livelihood should you suffer a loss.
A similar program is available for fire fighters who operate a commercial enterprise, whatever the size. You could be an electrician or accountant, we have a specialty insurance program for you!
We also offer a Group Home & Auto Insurance program through Intact Insurance that is designed to help pass on cost savings to the dedicated hero’s and heroine’s who do not live on a farm. This group insurance program will give our fire fighters can save up to an addition 18% on their auto policy and 15% on their home policy. As the funny infomercials like to say – “But WAIT THERE IS MORE!” This also rings true for us, by bundling your home & auto, you will find additional savings of over 20%. The “My Driving Discount” can also help reward the good drivers in us all, with savings up to a potential 25% just for being a good driver.
Zehr Insurance Brokers also has a division of our company that specifically deals with insurance to protect you if something were to happen to you as an individual. Life insurance, disability insurance and critical illness insurance are all ways we are here to help protect you and the people you love the most.
As my dad says “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.” We listened and we delivered.
“A Fire Fighter Program Built by a Fire Fighter” … I think I should have made it plural because without talking to “the boots on the fire ground” this program may not have come to fruition.
Whether it is on a practice night, during the day, in person or even a Zoom call, we would love the opportunity to share our passion of insurance with you and your team. If you would like us to visit your fire hall to go over our program, please reach out to us and we will schedule a presentation.
From one fire fighter to another, “Stay safe out there!”
