Missoula-area panel urges more home-level defensible space, better planning and insurer data to cut wildfire losses

A panel of Missoula-area fire, planning, insurance and real-estate representatives said Thursday that reducing wildfire losses will require a mix of homeowner action, clearer subdivision standards and more data from insurers — though the group did not adopt any new rules or votes.

A Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation representative told the meeting that the agency is “a wildland fire protection agency” with responsibility for roughly 5,200,000 acres of private land protection and that its policy is clear: “we absolutely will not enter a burning structure.” The speaker said DNRC’s role is to fight wildland fire and protect structures from approaching wildfire but not to act as a structural-fire department.

Panelists said that public education and incentives have improved awareness since major fires such as Yellowstone (1988) and other western firestorms, but homeowners still often fail to create defensible space or use fire-resistant materials. “If you want rates to go down … convince your community to improve your fire risk,” an insurance-industry representative said, explaining that insurers need robust data to file rate changes with state regulators and to justify discounts for actions such as 30 feet of defensible space or noncombustible…