What do insurers check for wildfire risk on a west Austin or Hill Country home?

Insurers look at where your home sits relative to wildland vegetation, the terrain and fuels around it, how close other structures are, and how the house itself is built, especially the roof, vents and the first few feet around the walls. Owners can't change their location, but they can harden the home against embers and manage vegetation, and should ask each insurer what wildfire mitigation credits it offers.

Why wildfire is an insurance question in Central Texas

The Texas A&M Forest Service says rapid population growth into the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where wildland meets developed land, along with more frequent elevated wildfire conditions, increases the risk of devastating wildfires in Texas. TDI points to the 2011 Bastrop County fire, the most destructive wildfire in Texas history, which destroyed more than 1,600 homes.

The Forest Service's statewide risk assessment describes the Hill Country's limestone hills, the band of timber along the Balcones Escarpment, and brush and grasses farther west. It notes that in the Bastrop fire, embers from burning wildland fuels ignited vulnerable structures and caused structure-to-structure fire spread.

How insurers score wildfire risk

Each company sets its own underwriting rules, so one insurer may offer a policy when another won't, TDI explains. Its home insurance guide lists common rating factors, including your home's age and condition, construction materials, where you live, and availability of local fire protection.

For wildfire specifically, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) says a wildfire model typically considers factors such as ignition, fuel, temperature, humidity, seasonal wind, land use and land cover, the wildland-urban interface, embers and smoke, fire detection and suppression, building construction and materials, and policy terms. The NAIC also noted that insurers still rely largely on historical loss experience by region for wildfire rating.

Public risk tools use similar ingredients. Austin Fire's Wildfire Division says its risk calculation considers proximity to wildland, structure separation distance, topography and fuels. The Forest Service's risk layers include housing unit risk, which combines wildfire likelihood with potential consequences to homes, and an index of ember load to buildings. Insurers' own scores are proprietary and can differ from these public tools.

Location: the wildland-urban interface

Inside the City of Austin, the Wildland-Urban Interface Code sorts structures into proximity zones: Zone A is 50 feet or closer to wildland; Zone B is more than 50 and up to 150 feet; Zone C is more than 150 feet and up to 1.5 miles from 750 acres or more of wildland, or up to half a mile from 40 acres or more. The city says more than half of Austin falls into one of the three zones.

The code applies to new construction and development; the city says existing buildings don't have to be updated (except when a code official finds a serious safety hazard), and it does not apply to properties entirely in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Even so, the zone map is a useful way to see how close a property is to wildland.

The house itself: roof, vents and ember entry

NFPA's Firewise program says research points to embers and small flames as the main way most homes ignite in wildfires, and that embers can be carried more than a mile by the wind.

Features that resist embers show up in Austin's WUI Code requirements for homes near wildland: Class A rated roof coverings, metal flashing in roof valleys, ember-resistant mesh with 1/8-inch openings on vents, noncombustible gutters with leaf guards, and tempered or dual-pane glass. TDI also suggests considering roofing materials less likely to be damaged by wind, hail or fire, and says your insurer might give you a discount for them.

Defensible space: the home ignition zone

NFPA says homes ignite because of the condition of the home and everything around it, up to 200 feet from the foundation, an area it calls the home ignition zone.

Immediate zone (0 to 5 feet): keep it noncombustible. Clean roofs and gutters, screen vents with 1/8-inch metal mesh, and move mulch, flammable plants, leaves and firewood away from walls. Austin's code calls a similar five-foot noncombustible area around new structures the Ember Ignition Zone.
Intermediate zone (5 to 30 feet): use driveways and walkways as fuel breaks, keep grass mowed to about four inches, and remove ladder fuels under trees.
Extended zone (30 to 100 feet, out to 200): remove dead plant material and heavy ground litter, and space tree canopies apart.

What owners can do

1) Check your property on the Texas Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal, where TDI says you can enter your address to see the risk for your property and surrounding area.
2) In Austin and Travis County, view your property's score and request a free, confidential Structure Ignition Zone Evaluation (SIZE) from Austin Fire's Wildfire Division at ATXWildfireHub.com. Specialists walk the exterior and assess vulnerability to embers, direct flame and radiant heat.
3) Work through the immediate zone first, as NFPA recommends.
4) Keep records and photos of mitigation work and roof upgrades, and share them with your agent.
5) Ask each insurer what wildfire mitigation credits it offers.

On that last point: TDI Commissioner's Bulletin B-0008-26 (September 16, 2026) encouraged insurers to develop meaningful premium discounts for homeowners who invest in loss mitigation, including proactively protecting against wildfire, and to inform policyholders of credits available for wildfire mitigation. The bulletin encourages discounts; it doesn't set an amount, so offers vary by company.

Nationally, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) runs a Wildfire Prepared Home designation, a science-based standard for reducing parcel-level wildfire risk. Ask whether a carrier recognizes it before paying for an evaluation.

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