New State Wildfire Risk Map Shows Property Ratings

Utah House Bill 48, passed in the 2025 Legislative Session, aims to improve wildfire safety throughout the state by providing homeowners with a path to mitigate property risks.

The bill required the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands (DNR-FFSL) to develop a High-Risk Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) map. This map identifies where structures and development are at the highest risk from wildfire impacts.

The map is located on the Utah Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal at wildfirerisk.utah.gov. Approximately 60,000 structures are within the high-risk boundary, including locations in Draper. Enter an address in the map search bar to see the risk rating.

Homes and other structures identified as high-risk within the map may be subject to an annual assessment by the State to support ongoing mitigation and fire suppression efforts. The assessment program is not yet in place. The State expects it to be available later this year. In the meantime, anyone with questions after viewing the map can visit the HB 48 FAQ web page. As Draper City had no role in creating the map or managing the program, please direct any additional questions to DNR-FFSL.

The DNR-FFSL said the high-risk WUI layer was developed by defining a structure exposure score. This score was rated on a scale of 1 to 8, with one being the lowest and 8 the highest. Structures that were assigned a score of 7 or higher and in proximity to two or more structures within a 250-meter (820-feet) radius were included in the high-risk WUI boundary. 

According to DNR-FFSL, data used in the scientific modeling include wildfire likelihood, weather, ember load, flame-length potential, topography, vegetation, and fuelscape datasets, structure density, and historical fire-occurrence patterns. This data created a standardized statewide boundary to support the consistent implementation of HB 48.