DUAL North America, a specialty programme administrator offering property, casualty, financial lines and surety products, has widened its relationship with InsurTech firm ZestyAI to underpin wildfire underwriting for a newly launched homeowners programme in California.
Under the enlarged agreement, DUAL will deploy ZestyAI’s Z-FIRE™ model to gauge wildfire exposure at the level of individual properties, enabling measured expansion in areas prone to catastrophe losses.
Wildfire volatility remains a persistent issue in California, pushing carriers to look past sweeping geographic classifications in favour of finely detailed, structure-specific data. Z-FIRE applies machine learning to analyse the distinct attributes of every property, such as defensible space, nearby vegetation, terrain, construction materials and local fire behaviour trends, to forecast how vulnerable a single building is to wildfire. This granularity allows underwriters to distinguish homes at greatest risk of total loss from those with a far higher chance of withstanding a blaze.
The move follows DUAL’s decision in late 2025 to adopt Z-STORM™, ZestyAI’s hail and wind model, across its US book, representing a swift scaling-up of its use of the platform.
Z-FIRE holds approvals across Western wildfire markets and was the first AI-driven wildfire model cleared within a carrier rate filing in California.
ZestyAI describes itself as the Risk and Decision Intelligence Platform for the insurance sector, combining property-level data, predictive AI models and Agentic AI automation to reshape how carriers view, price and manage risk. Its models, validated against climate science and historical loss records, span major perils including wildfire, severe convective storm and non-weather water.
DUAL North America operates from 10 offices across the continent and recorded more than $1bn in gross written premium in 2025 spanning over 20 insurance programmes.
DUAL chief actuary Luke Wolmer 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.”
ZestyAI founder and CEO Attila Toth said, “After strengthening severe storm underwriting with Z-STORM, DUAL is now extending that strategy to wildfire with Z-FIRE. This expansion shows how insurers can grow responsibly in challenging markets when decisions are grounded in verified, property-level intelligence.”
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