Coconino County hears IBHS plan to reduce home ignitions amid wildfire insurance crisis

Coconino County supervisors on Wednesday received a presentation from Michael Newman, general counsel for the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), on steps homeowners and communities can take to reduce the risk that wildfires ignite houses and trigger large-scale conflagrations. The briefing, the third in a county series on the wildfire-insurance problem, focused on parcel-level measures (notably a 5-foot defensible-space zone) and a voluntary IBHS “Wildfire Prepared” designation that IBHS says can be verified by inspectors and renewed every three years.

Why it matters: county officials and residents have reported sudden premium increases and policy nonrenewals. Supervisors emphasized that rate-setting and carrier underwriting are controlled by insurers and state regulators, not the county, but they said local actions — building-code changes, education, verified mitigation and coordinated data collection — could make homes more survivable and, potentially, more attractive to insurers.

IBHS’s presentation: Michael Newman described IBHS as a nonprofit research institute funded by the property insurance industry that conducts full-scale tests of homes under extreme wind and ember conditions. Newman said embers are often the first ignition mechanism when wildfires reach communities, and that the five feet closest to a home is the most critical defensible-space zone because embers collect there and can ignite combustible materials. “When mitigation actions are made to the structure and the surrounding defensible space, we can meaningfully reduce the risk of home ignitions,” Newman told the board.

IBHS recommends a system of mitigations rather than a single fix. Measures Newman highlighted included Class A roofing where feasible, ember-resistant vents, noncombustible clearances (for example, six inches of noncombustible material at the base of exterior walls), ember‑resistant fencing details, and careful landscaping inside the 0–5 foot zone. IBHS defines two program tiers: Wildfire Prepared (focus on ember ignition) and Wildfire Prepared Plus (additional protections against flames and radiant heat).

Program mechanics: Newman said homeowners can apply at wildfireprepared.org, submit exterior photos, and pay an initial application fee (he said the fee is currently about $125). If eligibility checks out, IBHS contracts an inspector to document the home against the IBHS technical standard; IBHS performs quality assurance and issues a designation valid for three years, with an annual photo-based landscape check. IBHS said the designation is currently available in California, Oregon, New Mexico and Nevada; New Mexico’s recent $10 million grant program helped launch the program there.

Neighborhood and community approach: Newman emphasized that neighborhood dynamics matter: structure spacing, connective fuels (hedges, fences, cars, garbage cans) and exterior materials determine whether a single ignition becomes an uncontrollable structure‑to‑structure conflagration. IBHS’s neighborhood standard breaks a neighborhood into an ember zone (homes meet Wildfire Prepared) and a flame zone (homes meet Wildfire Prepared Plus). Newman said IBHS measures success as keeping losses below 10% of structures in a neighborhood when a wildfire enters it.

Local coordination and next steps: Lucinda Andreani, Flood Control District director, organized the county’s series of briefings and said staff will continue outreach and education. County Community Development staff (represented in the briefing by Jay, Community Development) reported the department is reviewing the 2024 International Code Council (ICC) suite for possible adoption and plans to examine IBHS measures for inclusion where enforceable. Jay noted many county properties are in the wildland-urban interface and that recent subdivisions approved under Firewise principles and HOA sprinkler rules (examples cited: Kachina Highlands and Walnut Creek Meadows) illustrate different local approaches; he also said state statute prevents counties from requiring sprinklers in single-family detached dwellings.

Data initiative and insurer engagement: Paul (Flagstaff Fire Department / Arizona Fire Chiefs representative, name not specified in the transcript) described a multistate data effort — the WUI data commons — and a Western-states working group that aims to standardize parcel-level mitigation data to feed insurers’ catastrophic models. County officials and fire professionals emphasized that better, verified data at parcel and neighborhood scale is a necessary precondition for insurers to price risk more accurately.

Board reaction and constraints: Supervisors repeatedly noted the county cannot set insurance rates. Supervisor Ontiveros and others pressed Newman on whether IBHS designation guarantees continued coverage; Newman said verification and science-based mitigation make homes “more attractive” to insurers but offered no guarantee. Supervisors raised concerns about costs for homeowners, enforcement of voluntary programs, and how to help low-income residents afford mitigation measures. Supervisor Begay and others urged a unified local-state approach and recommended bringing mortgage lenders and state regulators into future discussions.

Policy and legislative context: County staff and presenters referenced multiple ongoing state-level efforts: a Department of Insurance (DIFI) wildfire resiliency working group has issued findings, and an upcoming legislatively created fire insurance review task force (referred to in the meeting as HB2054) will issue recommendations. Newman said IBHS typically expands its operational program to a new state when (1) an insurer member adopts it in underwriting or rate filings, (2) a large builder requires the IBHS standard for new subdivisions, or (3) the state funds incentives (as New Mexico did).

No formal action: The board took no votes at the meeting. Supervisors directed staff to continue research, coordination with city partners and fire districts, and to return with potential code options and outreach strategies. A city–county meeting on the issue was scheduled for a future date.

The county will continue the series of briefings and pursue coordination with fire districts, the city of Flagstaff and state stakeholders to build data, education and incentive programs aimed at reducing home ignitions and the associated insurance impacts.