The increasing severity of wildfire events is reshaping the insurance landscape, regulatory frameworks, and community responses across the western United States.

As industry leaders look to implement mitigation tactics, “Zone Zero” – a regulation requiring five feet of defensible space be cleared around homes and structures - has emerged as a standard to help communities prevent the spread of wildfire and wind-driven embers.

In California, the proposed requirement for homeowners includes removing landscaping materials such as grass, shrubs, mulch, dead leaves and other combustible vegetation from within a five-foot perimeter of structures on their property. It’s a valuable fire prevention approach that also comes with a financial – and often emotional – impact on homeowners.

For insurers, policymakers, and community leaders, understanding the science and risk mitigation of any new consumer-facing regulation – and how to then communicate that more broadly – is key. Join Milliman Principal and Consulting Actuary Nancy Watkins as she moderates a panel with leading experts from fire management, academia, and engineering science on Zone Zero and social change.

In this webinar we’ll discuss:

• Why is Zone Zero so significant—what does it represent in California’s long evolution of fire policy?
• What does it take to create culture change around defensible space, and how do experts overcome resistance and misinformation?
• How do new regulations intersect with risk modeling, insurance, enforcement, and the lived experience of communities?
• What can we learn from past attempts at social change, and what does a truly fire-adapted future look like?