Across the western United States and beyond, wildfire has shifted from a seasonal worry to a year-round, systemic threat. It strains insurers, depresses real estate markets and rattles entire communities. FortressFire approaches the challenge differently: Wildfire may be an unpredictable act of nature but it’s also a preventable risk that can be modeled and mitigated.

FortressFire’s CTO and co-founder John Wall explains how the company’s science-driven AMP Platform—Assess, Mitigate, Monitor and Protect—pinpoints ignition vulnerabilities at the structure level and prescribes the exact steps needed to alleviate the risks. From single-family homes to fine-art collections and historic wineries, FortressFire helps property owners, insurers and regulators reclaim control in fire-exposed zones.

Our vision is straightforward: a world where wildfire does not equal loss. Prevention—not panic—gets priced in.

Wildfires are often viewed as unstoppable. What do people get wrong about wildfire risk?

Wildfire behavior is highly predictable when you model the physics—terrain, fuel loads, materials, structural interactions and weather. When we run those inputs through our Property Ignition Model (PIM), we can prescribe precise, preventive actions—long before flames appear.

The insurance industry’s traditional hazard models lump properties into broad geographic zones and price risk on that basis. We ask more straightforward and actionable questions: Will this structure ignite? and What precise actions will prevent ignition? Using thermodynamic modeling plus boots-on-the-ground mitigation teams, we replace vague awareness with targeted prevention. When owners act on that insight, wildfire becomes a manageable, not mysterious, threat.

How does FortressFire’s technology rewrite the traditional playbook?

Our AMP Platform is a closed loop:

1. Assess – We create a 3-D model of each structure and its surroundings using satellite images refined by onsite inspection to quantify ignition risk, expressed by our proprietary Property Ignition Model (PIM) score.
2. Mitigate – We prescribe targeted structure hardening and vegetation management to drive that score toward zero while preserving aesthetics.
3. Monitor – We integrate continuous sensor and satellite feeds track weather conditions, fuel regrowth and vegetative stress, and nearby fire activity to generate threat alerts.
4. Protect – We offer seasonal maintenance, on-site retardant staging and real-time alerts to keep owners and carriers prepared.

Any property can reach a near-zero PIM score with the right, science-based interventions. Whether we’re safeguarding a family home, an historic Napa winery or a fine-art collection, the process is identical: diagnose, remedy, verify, and then watch. Because we measure and recommend actions at the structure level, every mitigation dollar goes where it has the greatest impact.

Why is the wildfire-insurance crisis worsening, and how can FortressFire help?

Insurers have traditionally leaned on area-level catastrophe models built for pricing—not solving—risk. Those models ignore how fires actually ignite and the ways individual properties differ. Carriers respond by raising premiums, canceling policies or leaving markets. FortressFire replaces broad generalizations with granular, actionable data. When mitigation is documented and verified, insurers regain confidence to write and renew policies—whether the client is a homeowner, a vineyard, a commercial distribution center or a hillside resort.

Premiums are soaring in California and other fire-adapted states because carriers lack granular data. Region-wide models treat a hardened home the same as an overgrown one, so insurers compensate by hiking rates, restricting coverage or exiting ZIP codes entirely.

Our AMP platform flips the equation. If a property’s PIM score shows near-zero ignition risk, a carrier can price the policy competitively, stay in market, and grow their portfolios intelligently. We give insurers the science to differentiate between a hazardous region and a defensible structure, restoring insurability for homeowners and for businesses that anchor local economies.

What direct value do you provide to carriers and reinsurers?

Better and more nuanced underwriting inputs. We deliver auditable proof that properties have been de-risked, giving underwriters a basis for competitive pricing and portfolio diversification. By reducing expected loss ratios, carriers can remain viable in high-risk states.

We’re not criticizing insurers, We’re equipping them for smart, profitable growth in landscapes that once looked uninsurable. Specifically, we enable:

• Stronger underwriting: Structure-level assessments replace coarse “broad brush-zone” maps.
• Lower loss ratios: Mitigations we prescribe are tied directly to ignition physics, minimizing loss claims.
• Portfolio management: Carriers can triage books of business, steering mitigation resources to high-vulnerability properties and balancing with new business based on identification of low-risk properties in high-risk zones
• Regulatory support: Our transparent, physics-based methodology helps justify rate-filing assumptions and can be part of strategies to de-risk properties and move homeowners off high-cost, low-coverage state-sponsored insurers of last resort and back into commercial market options.

How does this translate to owners who can’t find or keep insurance?

We give them a playbook instead of a rejection. Our reports break down risk drivers—roof type, ember exposure, slope, vegetation density—and rank the fixes by impact and cost. Implementing the recommendations not only protects the asset but often restores insurability.

Wildfire risk touches many stakeholders. What ripple effects are you seeing?

Real estate transactions collapse when buyers can’t secure coverage; lenders hesitate; municipalities lose tax revenue. By establishing a transparent, science-based language of risk, we stabilize lending, support real-estate markets and give regulators a fairer basis for rate approvals. Community-wide mitigation raises all boats.

You’re challenging entrenched assumptions. What mindset shift are you advocating?

Stop pricing for catastrophe response and start engineering for ignition prevention. Losses aren’t inevitable. With structure-level modeling and targeted fuel reduction, we can keep homes standing and carriers solvent—even in fire-adapted landscapes.

Partnerships seem central to your strategy. Which ones stand out?

Collaboration accelerates change. The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® distributes our Wildfire Disclosure Reports to inform buyers and satisfy legal requirements. Brokerages such as EPIC use our data to lure carriers back to abandoned markets and to launch specialty coverages like the Fine Art and Collections Wildfire Insurance Program we announced in June 2025. We’re also engaged with reinsurers, lenders and legislators who see prevention as the only durable solution.

Do you have proof the platform works?

We have proof our approach works. In back-testing against major California fires, our structure-level assessments predicted burn-or-survival outcomes with 95 percent accuracy. Field projects show that targeted mitigation can cut ignition risk to near-zero without stripping properties of their character. Those numbers are convincing carriers, regulators and property owners alike.

What’s next for FortressFire, and how can others get involved?

We’re scaling nationally, expanding monitoring capacity and forging agreements with homeowner associations, developers and utilities—because a single hardened home isn’t enough if neighbors remain vulnerable. Our vision is a world where prevention, not panic, is priced in, and where living in a beautiful, fire-prone region no longer means living in constant risk.

Our vision is straightforward: a world where wildfire does not equal loss. Prevention—not panic—gets priced in. Anyone who shares that goal—property owners, insurers, brokers, real-estate professionals, civic leaders—is welcome to join us.

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