Solution Rebuild wildfire-damaged communities to the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home (WPH) standards (Base/Plus) and pair with community-wide mitigation (e.g., Zone 0), using modeled Average Annual Loss reductions to support insurer underwriting and discounts. Key challenge Wildfire-driven insurability constraints—high modeled losses (AAL) can limit private-market availability and push communities into the FAIR Plan unless risk is reduced and credibly evidenced. Context After the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures, the region faces a time-limited opportunity to rebuild nearly 30,000 homes within the burn perimeters in ways that materially reduce future wildfire losses. The California Department of Insurance and NAIC highlight that Average Annual Loss (AAL) is heavily used in insurer decisions and rate filings, so measurable AAL reductions could shift communities from reliance on the FAIR Plan to access to competitive private coverage. Solution in practice CDI and NAIC modeled the effect of rebuilding with science-based building and landscaping standards—IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home (WPH)—across the Altadena and Palisades area, using the Moody’s wildfire catastrophe model via NAIC’s Catastrophe Risk Management Center of Excellence. The study found rebuilding to WPH Base could reduce AAL by 31% and WPH Plus by 35%, and it recommends adopting WPH Plus for Los Angeles fire rebuilds at an estimated marginal cost of ~3% per home, paired with community-wide mitigation such as Zone 0 requirements; it also recommends funding WPH evaluations for low-income homeowners and connecting rebuilt homes to insurance discounts through CDI’s Safer from Wildfires program. The approach is reinforced by evidence from Paradise (post-2018 Camp Fire) where newer and hardened homes with defensible space survived at higher rates, and Paradise’s municipal adoption of WPH as a rebuilding benchmark coincided with insurers returning and some residents seeing materially lower insurance bills compared to the FAIR Plan. Impact / outcome Rebuilding to Wildfire Prepared Home Base/Plus could cut AAL by 31%/35% at about 3% extra cost per home. Next steps Align state and local rebuilding requirements around WPH Plus and complementary community-wide mitigation (including Zone 0), and ensure evaluation/certification capacity so homeowners can earn WPH designations at scale, with targeted funding for low-income households. Translate modeled AAL reductions into clear insurer underwriting pathways and consumer-facing insurance discounts (e.g., via Safer from Wildfires) so resilience actions are directly linked to availability and affordability of private coverage, reducing reliance on the FAIR Plan. Organizations involved Authoring: California Department of Insurance (CDI); National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Actors: Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS); Moody's Implementation partners Regulators & Policymakers; Data Providers; Local Governments; Insurers