Dispute or Correct Your Wildfire Risk Score
Think your FireRisk score looks wrong? Start here. We’ll show you exactly where the number comes from, why we don’t change it on request, and how to fix a genuine error in the data about your property — free.
What your FireRisk score is — and isn’t
Your 0–100 FireRisk score is an educational estimate of wildfire hazard, computed from publicly available federal and state data for the location you searched. It’s designed to help you understand exposure and the steps that reduce it.
It is
- An informational estimate from public hazard data
- Transparent — every factor and source is published
- Shown only to you, on demand
It is not
- A home appraisal or property valuation
- An insurance decision, premium, or credit-type score
- Reported to insurers, lenders, listing sites, or bureaus
We don’t publish a per-home score page tied to your address — individual scores are generated only for the person who looks them up. Our public pages show risk at the city, county, and ZIP level, not for named individual properties.
Where the score comes from
FireRisk doesn’t invent risk data — it aggregates the same official government sources insurers and agencies use. Anyone can look these up for your address:
National wildfire likelihood & intensity modeling (U.S. Forest Service).
Wildfire expected-loss & exposure rating by county/tract.
Slope, aspect, and vegetation/fuels that drive fire behavior.
Recorded historical fires near the location (interagency).
The official CA hazard-zone designation, where mapped.
See the full methodology & weighting and our data sources.
We don’t appeal, negotiate, or hand-edit scores — here’s why
FireRisk.ai is not an appeals board for your score, and we can’t raise or lower it on request.
The score isn’t a judgment we make by hand — it’s computed directly from authoritative federal and state hazard data (the sources above) at a documented resolution. Editing a number because someone asked would misrepresent that public data and make the score meaningless to everyone who relies on it.
So our role is deliberately narrow and honest: we fix genuine factual errors in the inputs (a wrong location or parcel match), and for everything else we show our work. A disagreement with the underlying hazard rating is a question for the agency that produced it — not something FireRisk.ai can adjudicate or overturn. When those agencies update their data, your score updates automatically with them.
Two ways to dispute — pick the one that fits
1 · A factual error in your property’s inputs
The location was matched to the wrong parcel, the pin is in the wrong spot, or a property detail is plainly wrong. This we can verify and fix. Email us the address and what’s wrong (a screenshot helps) and we’ll review it.
Report a correction →2 · You disagree with the hazard rating itself
The hazard rating comes from the sources above — not from FireRisk.ai — so the effective route is to request a correction or appeal at the source of record. California’s Fire Hazard Severity Zones have a formal local appeal; FEMA’s National Risk Index and the USFS model publish feedback channels. When they update, we update.
If your score feels too high — here’s how to lower it
A high score isn’t a verdict on your home’s worth — it’s a to-do list. Documented mitigation genuinely reduces wildfire risk, and lenders and insurers increasingly reward it.
FAQ
Can I get my FireRisk score lowered just by asking?
No. The score is computed from official federal and state hazard data (USFS, FEMA, USGS, NIFC, and CAL FIRE in California), not set by hand — so we can’t simply lower it on request, and we won’t, because that would misrepresent the underlying public data and make the score meaningless. What we will do, quickly and for free, is correct a genuine factual error in the inputs — for example, if the address was geocoded to the wrong parcel.
Does my FireRisk score affect my home’s value or my insurance?
FireRisk.ai is an informational service. The score is an educational estimate of wildfire hazard built from publicly available government data — it is not a home appraisal, a property valuation, or an insurance decision, and we do not report it to lenders, insurers, listing sites, or credit bureaus. Insurers and agencies run their own models; the same public hazard data is available to anyone for your address.
Is my individual home score published online?
No. Individual address scores are generated only for the person who looks them up — we do not publish a crawlable per-home score page tied to your address or name. Our public pages show wildfire risk at the city, county, and ZIP level, not for named individual properties.
I disagree with the hazard rating itself — what can I do?
The hazard rating comes from the federal/state sources listed on this page, not from FireRisk.ai. The most effective route is to request a correction or appeal directly with the source of record — for example, California’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone designations have a formal local appeal process, and FEMA’s National Risk Index and the USFS model both publish feedback channels. When those authoritative sources update, our score updates with them.
My insurer used a wildfire score I think is wrong — is that the same thing?
No — that’s a separate process. If an insurer assigned your home a wildfire score or surcharge you believe is wrong (or that ignores mitigation you’ve completed), use our free Wildfire Risk Score Appeal Kit, which documents your mitigation and generates an appeal letter citing your state’s appeal rights.
Reviewed by Tom Hunt, Wildfire Risk & Insurance Analyst
General information only — not legal, financial, insurance, real-estate, or appraisal advice, and not a guarantee of any outcome. FireRisk.ai is an independent risk-information service that aggregates publicly available federal and state data; it is not affiliated with any insurer or government agency, and its scores are estimates, not official designations. Verify hazard designations with the source agency and your local fire authority.