New Tool Assesses Your Home’s ‘Wildfire Threat Score’

The First Street Foundation Wildfire Model zoomed into a neighborhood. (First Street Foundation)

For the seventh consecutive year, insured losses from wildfires in 2021 eclipsed $2 billion nationwide, and that total is expected to increase, according to a new study. Researchers are responding by introducing a wildfire threat score assessment for virtually every property in the United States.

Wildfires have been a worsening problem for much of the U.S. West in recent years, with 1.1 million acres already burned this year as of May. AccuWeather forecasters expect between 8.1 million acres and 8.3 acres will burn during the 2022 wildfire season.