The time when wildfire season referred to a few weeks of elevated risk in late summer has ended. Fire activity in the western U.S. now spans most of the year, keeping businesses and communities on a sustained high alert and intensifying the need for a detailed wildfire preparedness plan.
Use this guide to help prepare your business for wildfire season, and all that comes with it, including fire safety tips, insurance and compliance, defensible space, early warning systems, and the continuity work that ties it together.
Wildfires cause damage beyond the cost of replacing inventory and repairing property. A fire can create a powerful ripple effect on a business, including extended periods of lost revenue while a location is closed, disrupted supply chains that can’t deliver, facilities sitting empty for days, and a depleted workforce struggling with the fire’s repercussions at home.
This risk amplification is itself magnified by the growing threat of wildfire across the region.
According to Yahoo News, citing data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than 5.2 million acres nationwide have already been consumed by wildfires in 2026, well above the 10-year, year-to-date average of 3.8 million.
According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the average temperature in California has increased by more than a full degree Fahrenheit since 2013, and nearly half of the western U.S. is currently experiencing severe drought or worse. This means a massive swath of the country is on high alert during wildfire season, including major metropolitan areas like Phoenix.
The stats are ominous and the trends are clear: conditions are hotter, drier, and more vulnerable to wildfires than ever before.
Business owners in the West have another unpredictable factor to account for: Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). A PSPS is when utilities cut power on purpose when conditions such as high winds, low humidity, and dry vegetation increase the odds that their own lines could spark a fire.
A shutoff is an important safety precaution, but it can last for days, cutting off alarms, cameras, and access controls at properties that are already hard to protect.
Today’s longer, more extreme wildfire season requires a proactive plan for not only fire safety, but also the power, service, and continuity issues a fire can lead to.
Insurance and compliance work has to be done early, not only once a red-flag warning goes up. At that point, most options are gone. Here are some proactive steps to keep in mind.
Commercial wildfire insurance is undergoing a shift as insurers adjust their underwriting models to account for risk factors beyond ZIP code alone. Insurance companies now weigh a wide array of potential concerns, including surrounding vegetation, access roads, construction materials, nearby fire suppression resources, and roof type.
California’s Office of the State Fire Marshal maintains Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps showing whether a property falls into moderate, high, or very high risk, which insurers now use more commonly.
Standard commercial policy terms and pricing are less predictable due to today’s volatile environmental conditions and can change rapidly. It’s critical to read the small print and not just assume your policy will cover every wildfire-related loss.
Be clear about what your policy’s approach to less obvious but potentially consequential issues is, such as:
Review your policy with a broker specifically for wildfire scenarios, and keep financial and inventory records current.
A fire risk assessment helps inform fire risk by examining where a property sits, what’s growing around it, what materials it’s built from, how close it is to designated fire hazard zones, and historical wildfire data from the area.
A proper assessment also identifies potential vulnerabilities, so you can address them before fire season starts.
Staying compliant is not just a good idea, it’s essential. Falling out of compliance can lead to fines, complicate coverage renewal, and, most importantly, reduce safety. Check with your local fire authority each season to review any changes to compliance rules.
Defensible space is a buffer zone around a property that helps slow the spread of wildfire. Creating defensible space is a high-leverage precaution because it reduces risk and is entirely within your control.
Think of defensible space as a series of rings, or zones, around your property, each requiring a specific level of fire prep.
In high-risk zones, none of this is optional, and it genuinely improves a building’s odds if fire reaches the property.
It’s not enough to clear brush once a year. Grass dries out, leaves pile up, and dead branches accumulate within months, if not weeks. Every zone needs to be maintained, especially Zone 0, since one ember in dry debris next to the building is enough to start a problem.
Put maintenance on a recurring calendar to keep it consistent, especially ahead of the driest months.
Preparation lowers baseline risk. Detection buys time once that risk becomes real, and it’s a frequently overlooked aspect of wildfire safety. Wildfire prep content often comes from insurance brokers or notification vendors, while information on how to protect a facility’s physical security once the building is empty is harder to find.
Proactive detection measures, such as video monitoring, fire alarm systems, and round-the-clock professional support, ensure a developing fire gets noticed and responders are dispatched without waiting for someone to notice smoke.
An immediate response is critical when every second matters, particularly off-hours or at properties spread across vast outdoor spaces, where nobody’s necessarily close enough to catch a problem on their own.
It’s important to keep an eye on your building once your team has left. A modern video monitoring system lets you pull up live footage to confirm what’s happening in real time and gives first responders something concrete to act on before they arrive.
A system that only functions when the power’s on can be a liability during times it’s needed most. A security system that runs on solar and battery backup power and cellular data won’t falter during a PSPS event, unlike one that relies on grid power and Wi-Fi.
A business continuity plan, or BCP, turns theoretical preparation into an actionable plan: who’s making calls, what gets protected first, and how the business gets moving again afterward.
An evacuation can leave your property empty for days, especially if a PSPS event follows the fire itself. Your continuity plan should spell out how that gap gets covered: who can pull up video, how alerts reach the right person, and what happens if the system flags something while the building sits vacant.
Every business needs a fast way to reach staff, a clear evacuation route with a designated assembly point, and someone authorized to call for an evacuation before an official order comes down. Don’t forget smoke: bad air quality alone can shut down outdoor work and force HVAC systems into recirculation well before flames are close.
This is the part businesses tend to skip, and it determines how fast you’re back up and running. Have a written procedure for shutting systems down and restarting them, a way to check for smoke or structural damage before letting staff return, and insurance paperwork already organized rather than scrambled together after the fact.
Refresh and refine the plan each year to account for updated information or new conditions caused by the previous year’s wildfire season.
Wildfire preparedness comes down to having a comprehensive strategy in place that ensures compliance, defensible space, early detection, and continuity planning work together. Wildfire season is longer and more dangerous today than ever, and it’s vital to keep your property as safe as possible at all times.
Bay Alarm, with over 80 years of experience, provides West Coast businesses with expert security services and support to keep them protected year-round.
Updated on: September 14th, 2026
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