I live in Illinois. It’s home but it’s not among America’s prettiest states. Yet there is a mantra that makes us feel a little better about living in the Land of Lincoln. “No hurricanes, no alligators, no wildfires.” Urban or otherwise.
My friends who live in far more scenic Western states can draw little comfort from this mantra. At least not as far as the fires are concerned.
When wildfires and urban density come into contact, the havoc can be extensive.
A newly enhanced tool from the data Integrity firm Precisely promises some relief by allowing organizations in high-risk areas to better predict when fires are likely as well as gauge their potential severity. Specifically, Precisely has expanded the capabilities of its Wildfire Risk product.
According to Precisely, “The tool considers the impact of different variables such as the presence of vegetation or that of varying topography, including hills and valleys, which results in much more accurate and interpretable wildfire behavior analysis.”
Precisely’s SVP of Data Enrichment puts this in a context that matters to local.
“The combination of Wildfire Risk with the new Wildfire Risk Extreme modeling and data means businesses and local government agencies can accurately assess critical risk factors. These include environmental conditions for rapidly spreading urban fires,” Dan Adams told Localogy Insider.
Who Does This Help?
Adams offered a few examples of ways this kind of data helps local businesses.
- “Insurers can more easily identify underestimated property risks for accurate policy pricing and service provision. [And they can] compare the likelihood of risk under both typical and extreme conditions.
- “Telecommunications providers can better understand the potential impact of wildfires on cell tower placements. And [assess] the risk to nearby communities during severe weather conditions that could result in urban fires.
- “Public Sector organizations…can plan for resilience and mitigation strategies with a clear understanding of what areas are most at risk.”
And unfortunately, most signs point to the risk of urban wildfires rising. Just in the first six months of this year, nearly 20,000 wildfires burned more than 2 million acres across the United States.
Precisely cites recent research showing that “the property value exposed to wildfire risk during a typical mortgage period is projected to more than double by 2025, reaching over $11 billion per year and impacting approximately 3.3 million households in the United States.”
