California Takes A Big Step To Help Insure Private Companies That Fight Fire With Fire

Jim Wills has been setting fire to California’s landscapes for nearly 50 years, traveling around the state doing prescribed burns.

Called on by private landowners and government agencies, he’ll show up with a crew, drip torches and a meticulously prepared burn plan. If the weather and a whole bunch of other factors come together, he’ll burn overgrown brush in an effort to reduce fire risk.

“I go at it methodically. I think through it, I know the resources that I have. And you get a sense of when to drop the match or not,” said Wills.

A drip torch which will be filled with fuel and used to spread fuel in brush meant to be set on fire.

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Jacob Margolis

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The problem is that burn bosses like Wills have been operating without comprehensive insurance because it hasn’t been available. Meaning, if a burn escapes and destroys structures or timber, or causes environmental or infrastructure damage, they can be held liable, even if it was an accident.

“You can end up losing all your assets, basically,” said Wills.

Prescribed fire has long been identified as a critical tool that can help mitigate megafires, and heal landscapes across California left overgrown and unhealthy after more than a century of fire suppression. But the lack of insurance has become a major barrier, discouraging more people from putting good fire on the ground.

A lack of insurance has been a big problem

The state is stepping in to help fix the issue, at least partially.

Last September, the California legislature approved the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund, intended to offer coverage for practitioners like Wills across the state. Since its passing, a task force made up of stakeholders has been working with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) to hammer out the details. The final version of the Prescribed Fire Liability Pilot Program could be announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office in the coming week.

“This insurance piece was really a big gap in the bigger picture of people trying to use more prescribed fire and cultural fire,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, fire advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension, who’s been part of the task force.

Karuk tribal members used fire to clear invasive blackberry brambles in the mountains of Humboldt County.

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Jacob Margolis

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The program should offer coverage of up to $2 million per burn, with a maximum of 200 burns available to take advantage of the program at any one time.

Who's eligible?

Those who’ve been qualified to lead burns via state or federal programs, as well as cultural fire practitioners (experts associated with Native American tribes), can utilize the fund.

“The claims fund is great. It’s a huge step in the right direction. It’s not near enough money, but as a pilot project it is definitely a good thing,” said Margo Robbins, Yurok tribal member and executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council. She regularly leads burns in the forests of Humboldt County and on the upper Yurok reservation.

Robbins says it’s been all but impossible to get the coverage needed through the private insurance market to safely practice burns that she uses to restore cultural resources, like hazel, traditionally used in basket making.

A sign telling those passing by why there's smoke in the air.

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Jacob Margolis

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To her point, damage from an escaped burn can easily exceed $2 million, quickly depleting the funds available, meaning the plan is far from comprehensive.

According to the U.S. Forest Service escapes are quite rare, occurring on fewer than 1% of burns each year.

“Part of the process of this fund will be to demonstrate really the lack of use,” said Len Nielsen, prescribed fire and environmental protection staff chief for Cal Fire.

The goal, Nielsen says, is to demonstrate that California can maintain numbers in line with the national average, while increasing its burn capacity. The hope is that the insurance industry will be enticed to offer coverage.

Bottom line: more people need to be empowered to burn

Karuk tribal members performing a cultural burn in Humboldt County.

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Jacob Margolis

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Roughly 40% of land in California is privately owned, and Cal Fire doesn’t have enough people to do all the burning that needs to be done. That makes private burners, prescribed fire burn associations and cultural fire practitioners, critical to the future of the state.

“We’re really all in, trying to increase that workforce capacity,” said Nielsen.

Cal Fire hopes this will encourage landowners to treat their private lands and take some of the burden off them as well, according to Nielsen.

“There’s a real art to prescribed fire that you can’t learn quickly,” said Quinn-Davidson.

Those leading burns often have decades of fire experience. Currently there are only 16 state certified burn bosses. It’s unclear how many people qualify under federal regulations.