Verisk Insurance Solutions has added Montana, Oklahoma and Wyoming to its FireLine wildfire risk management service. FireLine provides information to insurers to analyze wildfire risk at the individual address level.
FireLine uses satellite data to assess the effects of the three primary factors that contribute to wildfire risk: fuel, slope, and road access. Fuel represents the vegetation surrounding the property; slope refers to the grade of the land upon which the property is built; and road access identifies potential barriers for firefighters to protect the property. For each address, FireLine provides a score for each primary risk factor and an overall wildfire hazard score.
“Even though it’s difficult to predict precisely when and where wildfires will strike, insurers can better manage risk by knowing the relative wildfire risk of properties they insure,” said Steve Lekas, vice president of property underwriting products at Verisk Insurance Solutions. “FireLine helps insurers manage wildfire risk at individual risk and aggregate risk levels. And several state departments of insurance have acknowledged use of FireLine scores in segmenting pricing.”
According to a FireLine wildfire risk analysis, at least 30 percent of all households in Oklahoma and Wyoming are at moderate to high risk of wildfire losses. In Montana, it’s more than 50 percent.
With the new additions, FireLine is now available in 13 states.
Additionally, FireLine data is used to produce state wildfire risk reports – a summary of the number of households exposed to wildfire risk – for the three new states, Montana, Oklahoma and Wyoming, as well as for the 10 original states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. The 2015 reports for all 13 FireLine states are expected to be publicly available later in May.
FireLine is part of the LOCATION suite of property products that provides data on every U.S. property for insurers to assess risk.
Verisk Insurance Solutions is a Verisk Analytics business. Verisk Insurance Solutions includes the brands of ISO, AIR Worldwide, and Xactware.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Property Oklahoma Montana
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