Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wildfire Insurance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Flood Control District launches series on wildfire and property insurance; experts brief board on scope and solutions
Summary
Coconino County’s Flood Control District began a series of work sessions on wildfire-related insurance challenges. Headwaters Economics experts briefed the board on rising wildfire costs, home-ignition science and community-scale mitigation approaches.
Coconino County’s Flood Control District opened a planned series of work sessions on wildfire and property insurance, hosting researchers from Headwaters Economics to brief the board and the public on how changing wildfire behavior is affecting homeowners’ insurance markets.
Flood Control Director Lucinda Andreani said the county is “in the top 4% of those areas, counties, that are at risk for wildfire in this country,” and described the session as the first in a multi-part public education and planning effort. “We have a front row seat to wildfire and post wildfire flooding in this county,” Andreani said, and she urged a cross-jurisdictional approach involving state regulators, insurers, tribes and municipalities.
Headwaters Economics’ Dr. Kimiko (Kimmy) Barrett and Doug Green summarized national trends and the science of home ignition. Barrett said wildfires have become costlier and more frequent: “Wildfires are the fastest-growing source of hazard related damages in the United States,” and U.S. losses since 2005 exceed tens of billions of dollars. Green explained the dominant ignition pathway in many community conflagrations: embers lofted by wildfire can ignite combustible materials at a distance and cause structure-to-structure spread.
Speakers emphasized that insurance is a pooled post-disaster financial product, not a substitute for mitigation, and that insurers are increasingly modifying or withdrawing coverage where expected losses outpace premiums. Presenters recommended community-scale, sustained mitigation strategies—parcel-by-parcel inspections, consistent data, coordinated communications with insurers, and funding/incentive mechanisms—rather than one-time fixes.
Board members discussed next steps, including local and state coordination with the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, continuing the Flood Control District’s public work sessions, and working with local partners (including the City of Flagstaff and tribes) to develop mitigation, data and financing options. No regulatory action was taken; the board scheduled further expert sessions to develop an action plan.
