Burning Questions

By: Headwaters Economics
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  • Summary

  • A show about wildfire and its impact on the built environment.
    2025 Headwaters Economics, all rights reserved
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Episodes
  • Wildfire risk maps: Are they necessary?

    Wildfire risk maps: Are they necessary?
    May 2 2025
    Are wildfire risk maps necessary? And will they make your insurance premiums go up? The recent wildfires in Los Angeles show that wildfire risk maps are — tragically — very accurate. But across the United States, fire chiefs, elected officials and resident are pushing back on efforts to map wildfire risk claiming that these maps only increase insurance premiums for residents. Join Ryan and Doug in this episode to discuss the history of hazard mapping in the US and to hear, definitively, how risk maps affect your insurance. Links referenced in this episode: Wildfire Risks to Communities California’s Fire Severity Hazard Zones map State of Oregon Wildfire Hazard Maps State of Colorado Wildfire Risk Public Viewer This podcast is a production of Headwaters Economics and made possible by generous support from the USDA Forest Service and private foundations. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. Episode hosts Ryan Maye Handy Ryan is a wildfire and land use expert for the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire program. Her experience as an urban planner and former journalist brings invaluable insights to communities that must prepare for increasing wildfire risks. See more about Ryan Doug Green Doug brings two decades of professional experience in fire departments and as a land use planner to the Community Assistance for Wildfire program. His practical insights and expertise in fire operations has supported dozens of communities working to reduce wildfire risks. See more about Doug Transcript Edited for clarity View transcript Ryan Maye Handy: Hi everyone, and welcome to Burning Questions, a podcast about living with wildfire. I'm Ryan Handy. Doug Green: And I'm Doug Green. Ryan: We are urban planners and wildfire experts for a non-profit, Headwaters Economics, based in Montana, and we help communities around the United States reduce their wildfire risk using land use codes. Sounds wonky, I know, but bear with us. Our years of research show that the best way to combat wildfires is to think about how and where we build. So Doug and I spend a lot of time thinking about building codes, zoning, landscaping, water planning. “Why do these things matter” you say? Well, we're going to get into that, but in short, all of these things can help your community survive a wildfire. Today, we're going to start by talking about one of the most fundamental things we support at Headwaters and that’s mapping wildfire risk. We are partners with the USDA Forest Service on a project called Wildfire Risk to Communities. It’s a free, easy to use website with wildfire risk maps for every community in the country and you can find it at wildfirerisk.org. So today, we have a series of burning questions about these risk maps that I'm going to be asking Doug. And these questions include; Why do we need these maps? Why are they so controversial? And how do they affect things like home or property values or insurance rates? These maps have been on my mind a lot recently, given the wildfires in Los Angeles, and also some of the feedback we've been hearing from firefighters and community members that we work with around the country. And I have to say that I think these maps are more necessary now than ever. In Los Angeles, for instance, our wildfire risk maps overlapped very closely with the fire perimeters of the Palisades and the Eaton fires, which means that these maps can be pretty accurate and can really predict where the worst wildfires can happen, given the right conditions. But lately, there has been a lot of concern that maps like these trigger insurance rate hikes or may affect private property values, and these concerns are really growing even more as wildfire risk goes up around the country. So despite this increased scrutiny of wildfire risk mapping, we do actually have a really good history of risk mapping in the United States, and we do this,
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    30 mins
  • Season 1 Trailer

    Season 1 Trailer
    May 1 2025
    We’re starting something new here at Headwaters Economics, a podcast called “Burning Questions” hosted by our very own Ryan Handy and Doug Green. They will be diving into the issues surrounding wildfire and the built environment, like risk mapping, urban conflagrations, and building codes. If you want to be informed about the episodes and notified when they drop head over to cpaw.headwatereconomics.org/burning-questions/ or subscribe to this podcast in the player of your choice. Season hosts Ryan Maye Handy Ryan is a wildfire and land use expert for the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire program. Her experience as an urban planner and former journalist brings invaluable insights to communities that must prepare for increasing wildfire risks. See more about Ryan Doug Green Doug brings two decades of professional experience in fire departments and as a land use planner to the Community Assistance for Wildfire program. His practical insights and expertise in fire operations has supported dozens of communities working to reduce wildfire risks. See more about Doug
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    1 min

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