For the third installment of our “Insurance Dilemma” series, we’re delving into the Nevada Assembly bills addressed wildfire impacts to insurance in the 2025 legislative session with Nevada Insurance Commissioner Ned Gaines and Elko Fire Chief Matt Petersen, who also serves as Nevada Fire Chiefs Association rural representative. Host Jenni Burr, Insurance Commissioner Gaines and Chief Petersen first talk about what wildfire-related impacts they’re seeing around the state when it comes to homeowners insurance, then shift to finding out what wildfire-related insurance bills were introduced in the 2025 Nevada Legislature session and wrap up with what’s ahead for the future.

For more full episode details including the transcript, visit

https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1819551/episodes/18638277-insurance-dilemma-part-3-2025-nevada-legislative-updates

Here are tips shared in the episode:

· When looking for an insurance plan, speak to an agent licensed in your state

· Document your belongings in your home and how your home is built to ensure that you have enough coverage. Find out more at https://doi.nv.gov/Consumers/Homeowners-Insurance/Home-Inventory/

To learn more about the program’s partners visit:

· Nevada Division of Insurance: doi.nv.gov/Consumers/Homeowners-Insurance

· Nevada Fire Chiefs Association: www.nvfirechf.org

· Living With Fire: www.livingwithfire.org

Resource Links

· Nevada Assembly Bill 376 www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/83rd2025/Bill/12518/Overview

· Nevada Assembly Bill 437 www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/83rd2025/Bill/12643/Overview

· IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home https://wildfireprepared.org/

In this episode, learn more about the fire science academy at the Academy of Arts, Career and Technology (AACT) in Washoe County. Living With Fire’s Jenni Burr sits down with Spencer Eusden (Living With Fire Special Projects Coordinator), AACT students Lucy and Luca, and former lead instructor Jen Diamond (BLM Mitigation Education Specialist) to hear more about this high school program.

For more full episode details including the transcript, visit

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1819551/episodes/18108363

Spencer gives an overview of the creation of the fire science workforce development program in partnership with Bureau of Land Management and Truckee Meadows Fire Protection.

Lucy and Luca then talk about their experience as students in the fire science program. Lucy shares “I definitely think even if you're in this academy and you don't want to be a firefighter, it'll set you ahead for another career, because you learn so much about communication working as a team, because so much of the fire is working with someone like accomplishing a certain mission or communicating what you need to do.”

Finally, Jen Diamond joins and shares her perspective on the program and answers questions from Lucy and Luca about her career in wildland firefighting. Reflecting on the realities of the job, saying “I think the funnest part is having those away experiences. And the hardest part is also not being home and having those home experiences when you feel like you should be there.”

To learn more about the program’s partners visit:

· Bureau of Land Management: blm.gov/Nevada

· Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District: https://tmfpd.us/

· Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology: https://aact.washoeschools.net/programs/cte

· Living With Fire: www.livingwithfire.org

In this second installment of our series “The Insurance Dilemma”, Living With Fire‘s Megan Kay (Program Manager) and Spencer Eusden (Special Projects Manager) sit down with Frank Frievalt to explore different perspectives on wildfire risk. Frank is the Director of the WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) Institute at Cal Poly who previously worked as a firefighter and fire chief. He explains what risk means to fire practitioners versus the insurance industry, and how wildfire conflagrations are impacting firefighting and insurance.

For full episode details including the transcript, visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1819551/episodes/17835392-the-insurance-dilemma-part-2-defining-risk

When it comes to reducing wildfire risk, Frank talks about how fire scientists are looking at ways to slow down and disrupt fire spread in the three pathways seen in the WUI: vegetation to vegetation, vegetation to structure, and structure to structure. He then shares the factors that are leading to conflagration losses and how this has changed the realities for the insurance industry’s financial risk. He highlights the disconnect between insurance agencies and homeowners and shares that he and many others are working to figure out how to get the right data into the hands of the insurers to “reconcile actual risk on the ground [and] facts on the ground, with how we price risk transfer.”

Frank ends by sharing the top way homeowners can protect their homes: working together as a community to ensure that they and their neighbors have adequate defensible space and hardened homes.

Here are Frank’s tips for homeowners:

Follow the IBHS prepared home standards for home hardening and defensible space:

• https://wildfireprepared.org/wp-content/uploads/WFPH-Technical-Standard.pdf
• Reach out to your local fire agency if you have any questions.
• When looking at home insurance, work with your insurance agent and shop around if you feel stuck.

For more information about the WUI Institute and their current projects, visit

https://fire.calpoly.edu/

Watch Frank’s talk to the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VyuwzJ5N0

Find Living With Fire’s Defensible Space and Wildfire Home Retrofit Guides at https://www.livingwithfire.org/resources/publications/