Insurance industry‑funded research group urges home‑ and neighborhood‑level mitigation to curb conflagration risk

The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) told Coconino County supervisors Tuesday that scientific research supports a system of building‑ and landscape‑level measures to reduce home ignitions during wildfires — actions county leaders said are central to addressing a rising insurance crisis affecting Western communities.

IBHS general counsel Michael Newman reviewed laboratory and field research that examines ember storms, flame spread and the neighborhood dynamics that produce conflagrations. “When wildfires enter into a community and start attacking structures, all three ignition mechanisms are happening,” Newman said, describing embers, flame contact and radiant heat. He said embers — small burning particles carried by wind — often initiate spot ignitions that then lead to structure‑to‑structure spread.

IBHS identifies a set of mitigation actions — a Class A roof, ember‑resistant vents, noncombustible zones immediately adjacent to homes and attention to structure spacing and connective fuels such as fences or hedges — that together reduce the chance that an ember or flame will ignite a house. Newman emphasized the importance of the first five feet around a house: embers tend to collect against walls and in low spots, and combustible material in that zone is a common ignition pathway.

IBHS has developed two voluntary designations: Wildfire Prepared Home (focused on ember ignition prevention) and Wildfire Prepared Home Plus (which adds measures to resist flame and radiant heat). The group also described a Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood standard, which assesses a neighborhood’s exposure and encourages coordinated mitigation: in IBHS’s framework, neighborhoods that meet the standard act as fuel breaks rather than fuel sources when wildfires approach.

Lucinda Andreani, director of the county’s Flood Control District, and Paul Atrogi from the City of Flagstaff Fire Department discussed local mitigation programs and said the county and municipal fire districts are offering home assessments and other services. Atrogi said Flagstaff has been conducting door‑to‑door assessments and is exploring programs to help homeowners complete necessary mitigation work.

Board members asked about cost and whether mitigation designations translate immediately into insurance availability or lower premiums. Newman said mitigation and third‑party verification make a home more attractive to insurers but do not guarantee coverage: “When you can marry science‑based risk reduction with verification, that gives confidence to the insurance company,” he said.

Supervisors and staff said they will continue coordination with fire districts and insurance‑industry partners and noted the need to explore financing and incentive programs for home retrofits, especially in long‑established neighborhoods.