Davis County leaders plan outreach, staffing review after state passes House Bill 48 on wildland-urban interface inspections

Davis County officials and staff on May 27 discussed implementation questions and local impacts from House Bill 48, new state legislation that requires wildfire-risk inspections for structures in state-designated high-hazard areas and allows counties to assess a fee based on each property's risk score.

The discussion, held during a Davis County Commission work session, focused on the law's timeline and the county's likely responsibilities. Amber Herrick, the county's emergency services manager with the sheriff's office, told commissioners the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands will set statewide standards and run a central database. "Under the new law, they're required by 01/01/2026 to have come up with the fee schedule, the requirements for the people doing the inspections, and to create a database where all the inspections will be uploaded," Herrick said.

County officials said the state will produce a statewide hazard map (the Utah Wildfire Assessment Portal, or URAP) and that counties will be responsible for conducting or coordinating inspections for properties the map identifies as high hazard. Herrick said the state will provide a fee range; counties will assess the fee and collect it through property tax processes. She added that inspections can identify mitigation steps homeowners can take to lower their wildfire risk and, therefore, their assessed fee.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the law could affect tens of thousands of properties in Davis County and would create new recurring inspection and billing tasks for county government and local fire agencies. At the…