2026-04-06

Burn Notice

Your insurer left. Your fire season started early. We track both — with satellite data, government records, and zero mercy for anyone who profits from your fear.

Consumer-facing wildfire risk intelligence meets insurance accountability — automated per-county fire risk scorecards, satellite-detected fire hotspot tracking, insurer non-renewal accountability rankings, FAIR Plan enrollment trends, seasonal risk forecasts, and weekly "insurance weather" dispatches that answer the two questions every homeowner in fire country is asking simultaneously: *"How dangerous is it, really?"* and *"Why can't I get insured?"*

Niche Explored

Wildfire risk intelligence + insurance accountability — consumer-facing site combining NASA satellite fire detections, USFS risk data, NIFC incident reports, NOAA fire weather outlooks, and state insurance data into hyperlocal “is my home insurable?” scorecards. The intersection of wildfire risk and insurance accessibility is a massive, underserved consumer pain point that’s growing exponentially.

Existing Competition

Wildfire Risk to Communities (wildfirerisk.org) — USFS official site. Government data, clunky UX, no narrative, no insurance angle. Pure GIS download. Good data, terrible consumer experience.
DefensibleSpaceScore.com — AI-powered property-level assessment, but B2C with paid reports ($49+). Limited to California focus. No ongoing content, just one-time reports.
FireSafetyScore.com — Similar concept, AI risk assessment per property. No editorial content, no community.
Wildfire Today (wildfiretoday.com) — Blog covering active fires. Good journalism but no data product, no insurance angle, not automated.
fires.substack.com — Substack newsletter on fire season. Good writing but manual, no data automation, small audience.
EWG / InsideClimate News — Occasional wildfire/insurance intersection pieces. Not dedicated.
Coverage Cat, 1800insurance.com — Insurance comparison sites with wildfire content for SEO. Not data journalism.

Key gap: NOBODY is building the automated nexus between wildfire risk data AND insurance accessibility data. Everyone is either a fire data site OR an insurance content site. The homeowner who just got dropped needs BOTH: “What is my actual risk?” AND “Why did my insurer leave?” AND “What can I do?”

Data Sources Found

NASA FIRMS API — Free, real-time satellite fire detections from MODIS + VIIRS sensors. CSV/JSON output. Near-real-time (within hours) and ultra-real-time (within minutes). No rate limits for moderate use. Map key required (free). URL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api
USDA/USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — Downloadable GIS layers: risk-to-homes, risk-to-potential-structures, wildfire likelihood, fire intensity, susceptibility. Available via Google Earth Engine (free) and direct download. URL: https://wildfirerisk.org/download/
NIFC Open Data / ArcGIS — Active fire perimeters, historical fire polygons, all accessible via ArcGIS REST API. URL: https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/
NOAA/NWS Fire Weather API — SPC fire weather outlooks (Day 1-8), red flag warnings, fire weather watches. ArcGIS MapServer at https://mapservices.weather.noaa.gov/vector/rest/services/fire_weather/SPC_firewx/MapServer. Also NWS alerts API (api.weather.gov) for red flag warnings.
CAL FIRE Hazard Severity Zones — GeoJSON/ArcGIS: Fire hazard severity zones for California. Free on California Open Data. URL: https://data.ca.gov/dataset/fire-hazard-severity-zone-viewer1
NIFC Wildland Fire Outlook — Monthly PDF reports with seasonal forecasts. Machine-parseable. URL: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf
California Dept of Insurance — FAIR Plan enrollment data, non-renewal statistics by county, published annually. URL: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/200-wrr/
NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) — Market share data, insurer financial data (some free, some paid).
US Drought Monitor — Weekly drought severity maps, GIS data, CSV/JSON. URL: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
WFIGS (Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services) — Historical fire perimeters back to 1800s. URL: https://openenergyhub.ornl.gov/explore/dataset/wfigs-wildland-fire-perimeters-full-history/

SEO Analysis

Keywords:
- “wildfire risk by address” — high volume, moderate difficulty (existing tools are basic)
- “home insurance dropped wildfire” — growing fast, low competition for dedicated content
- “FAIR plan California” — high volume, moderate competition (mostly insurance broker content)
- “fire hazard zone map” — high volume, mostly served by CAL FIRE official map
- “wildfire insurance crisis” — trending heavily in 2025-2026, mostly news articles
- “defensible space” — moderate volume, growing (California SB 63 mandates)
- “wildfire season 2026 forecast” — seasonal spike, big opportunity
- “is my home in a fire zone” — excellent long-tail, high intent
Search volume signals: “wildfire insurance” queries up significantly post-LA fires (Jan 2025). “FAIR plan” searches spiking. “fire hazard zone” is perennial.

Communities

r/Insurance (800K+ members) — constant threads about wildfire non-renewals
r/homeowners (500K+) — insurance panic posts
r/RealEstate — fire zone disclosure discussions
r/BayAreaHomes, r/LosAngeles, r/Sacramento — hyperlocal fire insurance anxiety
r/Wildfire — niche but dedicated (~30K)
Wildfire preparedness Facebook groups (dozens, large)
Nextdoor — hyperlocal wildfire insurance discussions
California FAIR Plan community forums

Image/Graphic Feasibility

Excellent. Fire data is inherently visual:
- Satellite fire detection hotspot maps (NASA FIRMS data plotted on maps)
- Fire perimeter progression animations
- Risk heat maps (USFS data → choropleth maps)
- Insurance accessibility scorecards (bar charts, gauges)
- Fire weather outlook maps (styled from NOAA data)
- Drought monitor overlays
- Historical fire scar maps
- Property-level risk infographics
D3.js, Mapbox, or Leaflet for interactive maps
Chart.js or Observable Plot for data viz
All can be auto-generated from structured data