DUAL North America, a specialty programme administrator, Kingstone Companies, a Northeast-focused property insurer, and Windward Risk Managers, a Florida-based risk manager, have each launched new California homeowners programmes built around ZestyAI’s wildfire risk model, Z-FIRE™.
The three insurers are turning to the property-level model as they enter or expand in California, a market still recovering from a record year of wildfire losses.
The January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the Eaton and Palisades fires, destroyed more than 16,200 structures and produced an estimated $40bn in insured losses, according to the Swiss Re Institute, making it the largest insured wildfire loss event on record.
Despite the scale of that event, ZestyAI’s analysis of 2025 property data found wildfire risk in the state to be highly concentrated, with only 11% of California homes falling into its High Risk tier. Z-FIRE rated 94% of the area burned by the Palisades Fire and 87% of the Eaton burn area as High Risk ahead of the blazes, underlining the model’s predictive accuracy.
Z-FIRE draws on more than 2,000 historical wildfire events and applies machine learning to assess a property’s defensible space, surrounding vegetation, topography, building materials and local fire behaviour, forecasting both the chance a property will face wildfire exposure and how vulnerable the structure itself would be. It is approved across all Western wildfire markets and was the first AI-based wildfire model to be included in a carrier rate filing in California. ZestyAI’s wider suite of risk models has now received more than 200 regulatory approvals across the US.
Each insurer is applying the model differently.
DUAL North America, which adopted ZestyAI’s hail and wind model Z-STORM™ in late 2025, is now adding Z-FIRE to assess wildfire exposure property by property as it builds out its California homeowners book, extending its use of ZestyAI’s models across major catastrophe perils.
Kingstone has selected Z-FIRE for its entry into the California excess and surplus lines homeowners market, its first expansion beyond the Northeast, where the model will support rating, underwriting and accumulation management.
Windward Risk Managers, which already uses ZestyAI’s Z-PROPERTY™ model to assess structural and parcel risk across its Florida hurricane-exposed portfolio, is extending its partnership with ZestyAI to apply Z-FIRE as it moves into the California market.
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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