My 13-year-old son and I just completed our first round of on-camera Island interviews for a homeschool science project. It is a documentary short on Vineyard severe weather preparedness, tentatively entitled: Elephants In The Room. We were both surprised to learn that current wildfires in Los Angeles could happen here.

It began when Martha’s Vineyard Commissioner Linda Sibley informed us that according to information the MVC had collected, wildfires are the Island’s number one threat. When fact checked, we found in Massachusetts alone the number of wildfires in October 2024 had increased 1,200 per cent over the annual average for October.

As we observe the news each day about the tragic fires in Los Angeles, and the gargantuan costs of rebuilding the city that will be required, a look into current home insurance issues here come to mind. In a Vineyard Gazette article this week, it was reported that “Dukes County had the third highest rate of insurance non-renewal in the country, trailing only Glades County, Florida and Dare County, North Carolina.”

Now factor in this statistic for Pacific Palisades. Last year, State Farm canceled 1,226 of 2,342 policies or 69.4 per cent in their one zip code, 90272, creating an overwhelming rebuilding challenge.

The Vineyard insurance issues mostly have to do with its proximity to water, but it has also been experiencing more periods of extensive drought. What will we do if forced to evacuate, due to fire or flooding or other catastrophe, something that would be exacerbated on an Island, especially if such an event occurred in season?

I checked in with Linda Sibley again and she suggested the MVC set up a public meeting to discuss the issue. I think my son learned a priceless lesson of how change can begin with simple awareness, and the willingness to work as a unified community — a long standing characteristic of Martha’s Vineyard.

Stay turned, there is hope.

Walter and Walter Jr. Robinson

Vineyard Haven