What’s New: In Brief (March 18, 2009)

A B.C. man who deliberately set fire to his car in order to collect on his insurance policy has been ordered to repay firefighters for a portion of the costs incurred. The Maple Ridge, B.C. resident, Thomas James Fergusson, pleaded guilty in court to lying to ICBC. He had reported his car stolen on Mar. 8, 2008, hours after the Ford Focus was destroyed by fire. Within weeks of the SIU looking into the matter, Fergusson confessed he had driven the car from his Maple Ridge home to the Chilliwack area, where he set it on fire. He was sentenced in B.C. Provincial Court to 12 months probation and 100 hours of community service, in addition to being ordered to pay the Chilliwack Fire Department Cdn$960 of the total estimated Cdn$3000 incurred.

IBC is teaming with an Ontario municipality to determine whether rain barrels can help keep basements dry during intense rainstorms.More than 1,000 free barrels will be made available to homeowners in Wingham, Ontario through the IBC/Wingham Rain Barrel Pilot Project, conducted by Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and the Township of North Huron. The Township of North Huron has installed a weather station tracking device to monitor the intensity and temperature of rainfall around the clock. In addition, the station will be used to determine whether or not the use of rain barrels reduces the number of sewer back-ups and overflows linked to each rainfall. Because rain barrels contribute to water conservation, the pilot will also keep track of reductions in the use of treated water, IBC says.