ZestyAI, a risk decision platform for the insurance industry, has seen its Z-FIRE wildfire risk model adopted by three carriers launching new homeowners insurance programmes in California.
DUAL North America, Kingstone Companies and Windward Risk Managers are each using Z-FIRE to support new or expanded California homeowners offerings.
The three launches come as the market continues to absorb the impact of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. The Eaton and Palisades fires destroyed more than 16,200 structures and generated an estimated $40bn in insured losses, which the Swiss Re Institute has described as the largest insured wildfire loss event on record.
Despite this, wildfire exposure across California is far from uniform. ZestyAI’s review of 2025 property data found that only 11% of homes in the state sit within its High Risk wildfire tier, while Z-FIRE had classified 94% of the area burnt by the Palisades Fire and 87% of the Eaton burn area as High Risk ahead of the events.
Z-FIRE draws on more than 2,000 historical wildfire events and applies machine learning to assess factors including a property’s defensible space, nearby vegetation, topography, building materials and local fire behaviour, generating both the probability of a property being exposed to wildfire and how vulnerable the structure would be if it were.
The model has been approved across every Western wildfire market and was the first AI-based wildfire model to be approved as part of a carrier rate filing in California. ZestyAI’s wider suite of risk models has now received more than 200 regulatory approvals across the US.
Specialty programme administrator DUAL North America is applying Z-FIRE to assess wildfire exposure property by property as it builds out its California homeowners book. The firm first introduced ZestyAI’s Z-STORM model in late 2025 to support its hail and wind underwriting nationally, and the addition of Z-FIRE broadens its use of ZestyAI’s models across major catastrophe perils.
Kingstone has chosen Z-FIRE as it enters California homeowners insurance on an excess and surplus lines basis, its first expansion beyond the Northeast. The model will underpin rating, underwriting and accumulation management as the insurer grows its presence in the state.
Windward Risk Managers is broadening its existing relationship with ZestyAI as it moves from Florida into California. The firm already relies on Z-PROPERTY to assess structural and parcel-level characteristics across its hurricane-exposed Florida book, and is now applying the same property-level approach to wildfire risk in California through Z-FIRE.
Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI, said, “For three years, the California story has been about who was leaving. DUAL North America, Kingstone and Windward are writing a different story—each entering the state with a clear, property-by-property view of wildfire risk. That’s the kind of precision that lets capacity stay.”
Luke Wolmer, Chief Actuary at DUAL, said, “Launching a California program requires a disciplined, data-driven approach to wildfire risk. Z-FIRE delivers the property-level insight we need to confidently assess exposure, differentiate risk within the same territory, and offer coverage with greater clarity and consistency. That level of precision is essential as we grow our portfolio with greater confidence.”
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