‘Fire Safe Sedona’ aims to stabilize insurance rates due to region’s higher-risk urban-wildland interface

The Community Development Department unveiled its Fire Safe Sedona Program during the City Council meeting on June 23, during which council unanimously supported the program to move forward.

“Fire safety has always been one of my concerns. It’s been a community concern for as long as I’ve been around, because of where we live,” Councilman Pete Furman said. “I thought this could be one issue that the community really could rally around and work together as a team.”

The effort is set to assist at least two subdivisions annually to get Firewise USA community certified, host five to 10 annual educational presentations, host an annual Firewise USA event, Community Development will amend city codes to comply with Firewise USA program, and create a Fire Safe Sedona website.

“My division has been doing it for a few years now, I’ve spoken to many subdivisions, few of them are already accredited, and there’s no profiting to it at all,” Sedona Fire District Fire Marshal Kirk Riddell said about Firewise. “The whole intent is … ‘let’s reduce those fuels between your home and the forest.’ It’s kind of like what the Forest Service does on the fire when they burn out the fuel to keep it, so when the fire gets there, there’s less to burn.”

The program is spearheaded by Assistant Director of Community Development Steve Mertes, senior planner Christian Santa-Gonzalez and Emergency Management Coordinator Chance Wnuck, with City Councilmen Derek Pfaff and Pete Furman backing the effort. It promotes Firewise principles and Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety Wildfire Prepared Home standards, after the council directed the department to prioritize Firewise work at its December retreat.

Firewise USA certifies entire subdivisions through assessments by agencies and city staff. While the IBHS program is for individual homes, with homeowners applying for one of two certifications, funded by the insurance industry. Homeowners do not have to meet both requirements, but they both have similar requirements of removing fuels from properties, and don’t require clear-cutting.

“The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety Wildfire Prepared Home is a designation given by IBHS when a homeowner accomplishes wildfire reduction efforts and improvements to their homes in accordance with IBHS standards,” the plan reads. “IBHS is known for providing resources and has been recognized to provide mitigation strategies that are science-based to meaningfully reduce wildfire risk to homeowners’ properties when meeting the requirements of the IBHS Prepared Homes checklist items.”

The incentives for joining the program are: City-supported chipping and/or disposal days from the Public Works Department, priority access to city or grant funded mitigation projects, Fire Safe Sedona signage and public recognition, matching funds for fuel reduction or road clearance and access improvements, reduced permit fees and expedited approval for home hardening projects.

The Sustainability Department will provide education and guidance to staff about drought-tolerant plants that can be promoted for landscaping, the city will also conduct residential property assessments.

“In-person and online workshops, demonstrations and informative material will be conducted throughout the year,” the plan reads. “The website and outreach efforts will, at minimum, cover topics such as evacuation preparedness, defensible space, fire resilient landscaping and benefits to the Fire Safe Sedona Program.”

Insurance Industry Engagement

“Challenges include insurance agencies dropping policy holders due to high-risk threat designation within specific areas, evacuation logistic difficulties due to roadway constraints and roadway design patterns, and funding for prevention projects,” the plan reads.

A major reason for Fire Safe Sedona is a desire by the city to slow rising insurance payments and reduce the number of policy cancellations by companies because of fire risk by increasing “insurance underwriters’ confidence,” presentation material reads.

“Our results indicate that the current discounts are small: The costs of property retrofits are orders of magnitude greater than the insurance savings,” according to a December 2025 study by Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan environmental and energy research nonprofit in Washington, D.C.

The plan also “builds structured data reporting shared with insurers and brokers to increase transparency and support underwriting confidence,” presentation materials read. But “does not guarantee a reduction in insurance premium rate.”

Riddell told council that despite that data sharing, SFD does not hand homeowner inspection results to insurance companies, and inspections happen only at a homeowner’s request.

“We do have one major company, that being State Farm, who has indicated to us that they will actually reduce rates if you are certified, and so we’ve been trying to reach out to other companies, I think this is going to grow,” Mertes said.

“A few years ago, I started talking to some folks in the insurance industry, … looking around the country, this was inevitable,” Furman subsequently said. “It’s happening here, and it’s a concern everywhere. I think there are communities that have helped reduce their overall risk rating and got lower rates, and it’s something we can do as well.”

During the meeting the U.S. Forest Service also provided an update on their response to the Pocket Fire burning north of Sedona, during which District Ranger Alex Schlueter also provided a brief update on USFS’s project to construct additional firebreaks focused on the south side of Sedona.

“My hope is to sign a decision at some point next calendar year, and then to work toward implementing it,” he said.

Visit nfpa.org for more information and visit wildfireprepared.org for more information about IBHS and how to apply for the certification.

Those interested in a Firewise certification or free fire risk assessment can contact Kirk Riddell at 928-204-8926 or kriddell@sedonafire.org.

Contact Assistant Director of Community Development Steve Mertes at 928-203-5097 or smertes@sedonaaz.gov for more information about Fire Safe Sedona.