How fire-risk is classified across the US
FireRiskHere uses two fire-risk classifications: one national, one California-specific. What each one means and how they overlap.
Guides
These guides explain the concepts behind FireRiskHere in plain English. Each one covers a single topic in a few minutes — what it means, what it doesn’t mean, and how it shows up on the site.
The guides are written for general readers; the methodology page is for anyone who wants the formal sources and processing rules.
What “active” vs “contained” means
Why some wildfires count as “active” even after the flames are out, and what FireRiskHere counts as an “active fire”.
How does FireRiskHere know where you are?
Why FireRiskHere doesn’t ask for your location, how close it gets anyway, and how to search if the result is off.
Wildfire insurance in California and Colorado
Longer, dated, sourced pieces on the insurance side of living in a wildfire area: non-renewals, the FAIR Plans, hazard zones vs. risk scores, and what mitigation insurers actually credit. These pages carry a quote-request form from independent agents; the disclosure is at the top of each.
Dropped by your home insurer in California after a wildfire: what to do
Non-renewed or cancelled in a California wildfire zone? The notice rules, post-emergency moratoriums, what to do in the first 30 days, the admitted market vs.
California FAIR Plan vs. private insurance: coverage, cost, and how to leave it
What the California FAIR Plan covers and does not, the difference-in-conditions wrap, the price gap, eligibility, and how homeowners get back to a private carrier.
How fire hazard severity zones affect your insurance premium
What CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps are and are not, how to look up a parcel, what insurers use instead (risk scores), the 2024–2025 zone changes, the levers you control, and how to appeal a score..
Colorado wildfire insurance: what changed and what to do about it
Why Colorado premiums moved, the new Colorado FAIR Plan (status, limits, applying), risk-score transparency rules, what to do if you are non-renewed, programs insurers credit (Wildfire Partners, county grants), and questions for an agent.