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Interlaken council reviews state wildfire mapping, warns of likely homeowner assessments
Summary
At its Dec. 2 meeting, Interlaken officials reviewed House Bill 48 and county hazard maps that could classify large parts of town as high wildfire risk; the council was told initial homeowner assessments could be $50–$100 and that insurance availability may already be affected.
Mayor Greg Harrigan and town staff spent the largest portion of the Dec. 2 Interlaken Town Council meeting reviewing wildfire hazard mapping and a recently passed state law known as House Bill 48 that will require municipalities to adopt wildland-urban interface (WUI) maps.
Harrigan said the bill’s intent is to “reduce the risk of wildfire spreading from structures in wild and urban interfaces” by requiring mapped assessment levels and individual lot-level evaluations. He told the council the state expects municipalities to adopt maps by Jan. 1, 2026, and that the maps will assign different risk tiers that could lead to assessments on property owners.
Town staff and the mayor…
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