What Is a Wildfire Risk Score — and How Do You Appeal Yours in Colorado?

If your homeowners premium jumped, or you got a non-renewal letter that mentioned "wildfire risk," there's a good chance a number you've never seen is driving the decision: your wildfire risk score. For years, those scores worked quietly in the background. A new Colorado law is about to pull them into the open — and give you a way to push back.

Here's what a wildfire risk score actually is, where it comes from, and how to challenge yours.

What a wildfire risk score is

A wildfire risk score is an insurer's estimate of how likely your specific property is to be damaged or destroyed by a wildfire. It's usually produced by feeding your address into a risk model — software that combines data like surrounding vegetation and fuels, slope and terrain, historical fire activity, proximity to wildland, access for firefighters, and sometimes characteristics of your home itself.

The model spits out a score or a risk classification (for example, low / moderate / high / extreme). Your insurer uses that score to decide whether to cover you at all, what to charge, and whether to renew your policy next year.

The catch that has frustrated so many homeowners: until recently, you couldn't see the score, you didn't know what drove it, and you had no formal way to argue with it. Two homes on the same street could be scored very differently, and the owners had no idea why.

Why scores got more powerful after recent fire seasons

Colorado's wildfire losses — especially events like the 2021 Marshall Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes in suburban Boulder County — pushed insurers to lean harder on these models. Faced with bigger potential losses, many carriers tightened underwriting, raised premiums in higher-scored areas, and non-renewed policies they viewed as too risky.

For homeowners, the result often felt arbitrary: a score they couldn't see, applied by a company they couldn't question, with real consequences for their wallet and their ability to stay insured.

What HB25-1182 changes

Colorado's House Bill 25-1182, "Risk Model Use in Property Insurance Policies," takes effect July 1, 2026, and it directly addresses that black box. For any insurer that uses a wildfire risk model or scoring method, the law requires three things that matter to you:

• Transparency. The insurer must disclose your wildfire risk score (and any risk classification) and explain the primary property features that drove it.
• Mitigation has to count. Insurers must build property-specific and community-level mitigation into their models — or, if they don't, offer discounts to homeowners who can demonstrate that mitigation work was done.
• A right to appeal. You can appeal your score or classification directly to your insurer, and insurers must publish their appeal process on their website.

In other words: you finally get to see the number, understand it, and challenge it.

How to appeal your wildfire risk score

Once the law is in effect, the appeal process generally looks like this:

1. Get your score in writing. Ask your insurer for your wildfire risk score and the main property features behind it. This is the foundation of any appeal — you can't argue with a number you can't see.
2. Look for what's wrong or outdated. Models sometimes rely on stale or inaccurate data. Maybe the model thinks you have a wood roof you've since replaced, or it hasn't accounted for the defensible space you cleared last summer. Identify the specific factors you can dispute or improve.
3. Gather your evidence. This is the part most homeowners underestimate. An appeal succeeds on documentation — dated photos, receipts for mitigation work, inspection reports, a simple map of your cleared zones. A description isn't proof; a documented record is.
4. File the appeal with your insurer, following the process they're now required to publish. Attach your evidence.
5. Escalate if needed. If the insurer's decision isn't satisfactory, you can raise the issue with the Colorado Division of Insurance, which oversees these requirements.

Mitigation is the lever that actually moves your score

An appeal based only on "I disagree" rarely goes far. An appeal backed by real mitigation — and proof of it — is a different conversation. The work that tends to influence a wildfire risk score is the same work fire scientists say protects homes: clearing the first five feet around the house, screening vents against embers, maintaining defensible space, and hardening the roof and exterior. Tie that work to a recognized standard like the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home program, and you're speaking the underwriter's language.

What to do next

1. After July 1, 2026, request your wildfire risk score and the factors behind it, in writing.
2. Check those factors against the real condition of your property — flag anything outdated or wrong.
3. Document the mitigation you've already done, and close any gaps the score points to.
4. File your appeal with that evidence attached, and escalate to the Division of Insurance if needed.

The homeowners who'll get the most out of this law are the ones who treat their risk score not as a verdict, but as a starting point they can document their way out of.

Emberly helps Colorado homeowners turn mitigation work into organized, standards-aligned, insurance-ready proof — the documentation an appeal actually needs. To be ready before the law takes effect, join the waitlist at emberly.tech.

This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice. Confirm specifics with your insurer and the Colorado Division of Insurance.