2021 Wildfire Report Identifies States at Highest Economic Risk for Wildfire
CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, has released its annual Wildfire Report for 2021, following a summer of smoky skies and nearly 80 days after the start of the Dixie Fire, now the second largest fire in California history. While California traditionally tops the list each year for wildfire risk simply because it’s the most populous state, CoreLogic’s approach for this year’s report examined property-related wildfire risk alongside reconstruction resource availability, temporary housing capacity for displaced individuals, and community economic recovery potential among fire-prone regions. By analyzing this risk through a housing stock comparison lens, CoreLogic identified Wyoming and Idaho as the states most at risk for a prolonged wildfire recovery.
If a fire destroys 800 homes in California, the road to recovery and lasting impact is not synonymous with 800 homes burning in Wyoming, when considering the size of each state’s housing stock. In states like Wyoming and Idaho, the number of homes at risk is a larger fraction of the total number of homes in the state. If a larger portion of the population is displaced at a single time, recovery times may be elongated, fewer local workers might be available — and likely distracted rebuilding their own lives — and fewer hotels and housing options may be available to outside workers due to local populace demand.