What Is a Wildfire Score?
A rating of your property's wildfire risk, based on terrain, vegetation and fire history, insurers use to decide coverage.
Free to compare
What feeds the score
Insurers pull data on the slope of your land, nearby vegetation, distance from a fire station and local fire history. Sometimes roof and siding materials count too. You don't see this score. A modeling company computes it and sells it to insurers.
Why you got the letter
If your score crossed a threshold the insurer set, that alone can trigger a non-renewal, even with no claims on your record. Insurers pulling back from wildfire-prone areas often use this score to decide which properties to drop first, not just which to charge more.
What you can change
Clearing brush, creating defensible space around the house, upgrading to a fire-resistant roof or installing ember-resistant vents can sometimes lower the score on a future review. Some insurers will reconsider if you document this work. Check whether your state has a mitigation discount program.
Your options now
A high wildfire score doesn't mean no insurer will write you. Some specialize in higher-risk property. If the standard market turns you down, your state's FAIR Plan is a fallback built for this, though it typically costs more and covers less than a standard policy.
One score, many answers
The company that non-renewed you weighs your wildfire score one way. Others weigh it differently, or specialize in higher-risk property altogether. Comparing quotes shows you who will still write your house, and at what price.
Can I find out my actual score
Most insurers won't give you the number itself. What they'll often give you, if you ask, is the broad category it fell into, like high, moderate or extreme, and sometimes the specific factors that pushed you there. A few of the companies that build these models offer a free lookup tool where you can enter your address and see something close to what insurers see. It won't match exactly, since insurers can use different models or versions, but it gives you a sense of where you stand and why.
If you can't get a number from anyone, your non-renewal letter is still worth rereading closely. Some insurers state the reason plainly, something like elevated wildfire risk in your area or on your property. Others use vaguer language about underwriting guidelines or risk appetite. Either way, the letter is the one document that reflects what that specific insurer actually decided, which matters more than any score you could look up yourself.
It's worth knowing these scores shift over time, in both directions. A dry year with nearby fire activity can push scores up across a whole region, unrelated to anything happening on your property. A wet year, or a few seasons without major fires nearby, can bring them back down. If your insurer pulled back from your area broadly rather than flagging your house specifically, that regional shift is often the real driver, not something about your house that changed.
None of this changes what to do next, which is the same whether the score is 40 or 80 on whatever scale produced it. The work that lowers risk, like clearing brush and upgrading materials, is worth doing regardless of the exact number. And since insurers weigh these scores differently, the way to find out who will still cover your house is to see who quotes it, not to chase down the underlying figure.
Does a high score mean I'll pay more forever
A high wildfire score is not a permanent mark on the house. Insurers reassess at renewal, usually once a year, using whatever data the modeling company has most recently updated for your address. If the surrounding conditions change, or if you've done work on the property, the score that comes back next year is not necessarily the one that got you dropped this year.
Scores move in both directions, and often for reasons that have nothing to do with you. A wildfire that burned through a canyon two towns over can push a score up even if the fire never reached your street. A few dry years passing without incident can bring a score back down. The modeling company can also revise how it weighs terrain or vegetation, and that alone can shift your number with no change on your property at all. None of that is something you control, which is part of why chasing the exact figure matters less than dealing with what's in front of you now.
What you do control is slower to pay off but more durable. Defensible space, a Class A roof, ember-resistant vents, these don't just help with one insurer's model. They tend to help across most of them, since the underlying risk they're measuring is real. If you do this work, keep records. Photos, receipts, the contractor's description of what was installed. Some insurers ask for documentation before they'll adjust pricing or reconsider a prior decline, and a mitigation discount program in your state may require the same paperwork.
Coverage through a specialty insurer or the FAIR Plan is not a life sentence either. Many homeowners move back to standard coverage once their mitigation work is done and a year or two passes without a claim. The point of taking the Plan or a higher-cost policy now is to keep the lender satisfied and the house covered while the score has room to improve, not to settle permanently for paying more.
Before your deadline hits
Pull your non-renewal letter and check the actual date coverage ends. Then compare quotes now, while there's time to line up a new policy, rather than after the lender sends its own notice.
