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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 described early guidance showing initial assessments during the first two years could be modest — typically in the $50–$100 range — but warned those amounts could grow and be tied to whether homeowners complete recommended home-hardening measures. Harrigan said the density, terrain and fuel loads around Interlaken make large portions of the town likely candidates for higher-risk designations.
Council members also discussed practical consequences beyond assessments. A council member noted the town has already been affected by insurance market changes. "We just received notice that our insurance company will no longer cover us for wildfires," a council participant said during the meeting, prompting discussion about the local insurance market and the visibility of a high-risk designation online.
Officials reviewed the town’s own mitigation work: the administrator said the town has been spending roughly $20,000–$26,000 per year on mitigation efforts and logged volunteer contributions (noted in the meeting as hundreds of volunteer hours and pickups). Harrigan and staff said those local efforts will be relevant when the town coordinates with county and fire-district partners on outreach and possible risk-reduction incentives.
Council members agreed to take more time in January to review the state-provided maps, distribute them to residents and develop next steps for public notice and possible mitigation programs. No ordinance or formal local action was adopted at the Dec. 2 meeting; the discussion closed with an agreement to revisit the issue once the official maps and guidance are distributed.
The Mountain Association of Governments (MAG) and Wasatch Fire District were cited during the discussion as sources of the maps and technical guidance; the town said it will consult those agencies and Wasatch Fire District representatives when outlining local procedures.
What’s next: Council expects to review the official WUI maps and decide on any local response in a January meeting, and staff will circulate guidance to residents once the maps are available.
