Claims News Service, July 6, 2:47 p.m. EDT — According to Insurance Services Office, from 1990 through 2003, property losses from catastrophic wildland fires amounted to $6.3 billion. The costliest event was the 1991 Oakland Hills, Calif., fire that caused property damage of $2.4 billion in inflation-adjusted 2005 dollars. The insured losses from two wildfires in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties in 2003 came to $2.2 billion.

To help identify areas at risk for wildfires and limit insurance claim payments, ISO offers satellite technology to pinpoint a property's risk. Its geographic information system, FireLine, focuses on three key risk factors — fuel, slope, and road access — to assess the wildfire risk for each property, down to the street address.

According to the company, FireLine uses technology developed by NASA — digital elevation models, satellite images, and street maps — to manage wildfire exposures and educate homeowners and businesses on brushfire hazards. For example, according to ISO, when wildfires set a large part of California ablaze in 2003, FireLine was able to classify nearly 98 percent of the geographic area burned as fuels. Almost all affected properties (99 percent) were within 2,500 feet of areas that FireLine had identified as heavy or medium fuels.