Summary
Following outcry from rural Oregon property owners faced with stricter building codes and fewer insurers willing to write fire policies, Governor Tina Kotek has signed two measures to address wildfire risks in the state. One bill repeals the statewide wildfire hazard map, as well as application of that map to seller property disclosures, building code standards for wildfire hazard mitigation, defensible space requirements, and establishment of rules for wildlife-urban interface. The second directs state agencies to coordinate with the insurance sector to recommend actions for reducing wildfire risk that would include ways to minimize fire risk to individual properties and, potentially, lower insurance rates.
Following outcry from rural Oregon property owners faced with stricter building codes and fewer insurers willing to write fire policies, Governor Tina Kotek has signed two measures to address wildfire risks in the state. One bill repeals the statewide wildfire hazard map, as well as application of that map to seller property disclosures, building code standards for wildfire hazard mitigation, defensible space requirements, and establishment of rules for wildlife-urban interface. The second bill directs state agencies to coordinate with the insurance sector to recommend actions for reducing wildfire risk that would include ways to minimize fire risk to individual properties and, potentially, lower insurance rates.
Wildfire Hazard Map
In January 2025 Oregon issued a wildfire hazard map developed by Oregon State University as part of a number of recommendations in response to a Labor Day 2020 windstorm that resulted in five simultaneous megafires (i.e., fires greater than 100,000 acres), as well as a dozen other fires up to 50,000 acres. These fires resulted in nine fatalities, the destruction of thousands of homes, and scorched more than a million acres. The searchable map identified hazard classifications—no risk, low, moderate, high, or extreme—for every property in Oregon based on climate, weather, topography, vegetation, historical fire data, and simulations of over 10,000 plausible fire seasons.
Properties that were designated within the wildland-urban interface—where at least one structure is present and surrounded by flammable vegetation or located within a mile and a half of a large patch of flammable vegetation—were subject to stricter building codes requiring fire-resistant features which applied to some existing homes.
Firestorm Erupts
Almost immediately the fire map sparked its own conflagration. The hazard designations were not based on individual properties, but instead on factors applied across a wide area. The map did not take into account fuel reduction measures that an individual property owner may have taken, for example, by clearing away flammable grasses, brush, and trees. While the map could not be used by insurers for underwriting decisions, the first drafts of the map were released at the same time that insurers were in the process of raising premiums or canceling policies based on their own proprietary wildfire risk maps.
Repeal and Replace
Faced with significant blowback over the map, the Oregon legislature quickly passed and the Governor signed the two bills to address the issues.
SB 83 voids an order by the State Forestry Department that assigned property to a wildfire hazard zone. It also replaces a requirement for minimum defensible space standards in high-risk areas with a model code to be developed by the State Fire Marshal for local jurisdictions to use as they choose. Similarly, any wildfire hazard mitigation code standards are applicable only to new construction. The new law also strikes Item 9.I from the seller's property disclosure statement, which asked whether the property was classified as wildland-urban interface.
SB 85 directs the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services and the State Fire Marshal to consult with the State Forestry Department and insurance representatives to develop recommendations that "could have positive impacts on reducing wildfire risks and increasing insurance affordability and availability" in Oregon. SB 85 provides for consideration of a) property-level actions, programs, and strategies, including developing defensible space, hardening a space, or receiving Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety certification; and b) community-level activities with "an emphasis on encouraging collaborative activities among residents of cohesive neighborhoods, including community risk-reduction programs[.]" The agencies' report, due February 2, 2026, must recommend legislative changes and discuss the "discounts or incentives that the insurance industry could provide to consumers who complete actions, programs, or strategies" recommended by the statute. The report also is to include information from insurers about ways in which the insurers treat wildfire risk mitigation actions in making underwriting and rate decisions.
Other States' Maps
Although Oregon is the first state to repeal its wildfire hazard map, it is not the only Western state to develop and use such maps. Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah each have had hazard maps in place, some for several years. California issued its first map in 1985 and revised it over the years, most recently in March 2025. And Washington State is developing its own maps. Under a measure passed in 2024, Washington's Department of Natural Resources is developing statewide and county-specific wildfire hazard maps. The statewide map will categorize wildfire hazard levels as low, moderate, high, and very high; the county-level maps will have a base-level risk assessment, which evaluates the inherent wildfire hazard without specific mitigation (such as defensible space or fuel reduction), to use for local planning and response. After completion of the Washington maps, all counties, cities, and towns issuing commercial and residential building permits in areas identified as high risk or very high risk on the map must apply portions of the 2018 International Wildland Urban Interface Code. Local governments will be allowed to update their wildfire hazard maps and risk maps based on local assessments, as approved by the jurisdiction's fire marshal.
As the risk of wildfires in the West increases over the years, a greater number of property owners are confronting the issue of how to mitigate those risks. Used properly, wildfire risk maps can be important tools to guide risk reduction decisions. However, Oregon's experience suggests a wildfire map that does not give weight to a specific property's characteristics, particularly defensible space and fuel reduction measures, may create more heat than light.
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