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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- Your insurance agent may have some chores for you later this summer.
State Farm Insurance has approved a program that requires people with homes or cabins in forested areas to trim trees and clear their yards in order to qualify for insurance policies.
Eric Olsen is State Farm's public affairs specialist in Salt Lake City. He says the requirements are being tested in Colorado and will likely be put in place in Utah by August or September.
The program requires a 30-foot "defensible space" around homes. It allows firefighters more room to save homes from wildfires. Homeowners who are affected by the policy will be notified -- but they'll have up to two years to get the work done. Those who don't comply can have their policies dropped.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
