The wildland-urban interface, or WUI, is where human development meets nature — and the wildfire danger is much higher than in concrete jungles.
Come January, any Utahn living in a WUI could be charged an extra $20 to $100 annually under a new state law, House Bill 48. The actual amounts aren’t official yet, and neither is the map of who’s in and who’s out.
Joseph Anderson from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, whose job it is to implement the law, explains the fees are needed to fund the program.
“The fees are deposited … into the Utah Wildfire Fund, and they may be allocated to counties based on the agreement we have with each county to cover their costs,” he said at a meeting about HB 48 Nov. 6. “They can only be used to cover implementation costs. These are things like going out and doing the lot assessments on the ground.”
The division is preparing a new map of people living in “high-risk” WUIs. Those homeowners will be required to get their property’s risk level assessed.
The state’s map won’t be finalized and published until January.
But based on a preliminary copy state fire officials displayed at the first of three HB 48 public meetings Nov. 6, plenty of Wasatch Back homeowners will need to pay the fee and get their risk level assessed.
After the first two years of a flat fee, adjusted for the home’s square footage, owners will be charged according to risk level, which is what the lot assessment is supposed to measure.
If owners don’t keep up with assessments, they will automatically be charged the highest fees. Assessment results can be appealed within 45 days.
State Forester Jamie Barnes indicated that the HB 48 program, which feeds money into the Utah Wildfire Fund, is supposed to keep Utah insurable.
“This is the first step that [legislators] have taken to really try to address the insurance issues in the state,” she said.
Under HB 48, insurers will only be allowed to classify a home as “high-risk” if it’s included in the state’s forthcoming high-risk wildland-urban interface map.
“That's it,” Anderson said. “It doesn't restrict them from doing anything else as assessing properties. It just says, ‘Hey, if you're using the label “high-risk WUI,” you have to use this map.’”
Barnes says HB 48 was also the Utah Legislature’s shot at avoiding having to create a “state implemented insurance plan.” It incentivizes homeowners to reduce risk on their own properties.
“There are some states that have a program for an ‘insurer of last resort,’” Utah Deputy Insurance Commissioner Reed Stringham said. “If you can't get insurance in the private market, you can turn to a government program. I can tell you that those programs are not great. You pay through the nose for their coverage.”
Hundreds of residents and lower-level public officials attended FFSL’s first public meeting about HB 48 in Salt Lake City to ask questions.
There are two more state meetings: Nov. 13 in Richfield and Nov. 18 in Cedar City. Both have options to attend virtually.
Summit County will host its own informational meeting Nov. 17 at the Park City Library’s Jim Santy Auditorium from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
