Wildfire Peril Query: Choosing the Right Data Layer

Overview

Opterrix offers several wildfire-related peril types, and each one answers a different question. Which one you should run often depends less on the peril itself and more on where a fire sits in its lifecycle — before ignition, during active spread, or after containment, and what decision you're trying to make.

This guide walks through that lifecycle and points you to the right layer at each stage. For the mechanics of any individual dataset, see its dedicated article linked below.

The Wildfire Lifecycle, Layer by Layer

• Before Ignition: Fire Weather Outlook
  Flags areas where wind, humidity, and dry fuel are lining up for rapid fire spread, before anything has started burning. Use it to support pre-emptive underwriting holds or to get claims and catastrophe teams staged ahead of an event.
• Early and Active: Satellite Detected Burning
  Opterrix's own smoothed, single-day burn footprints built from satellite thermal detections. This is usually your fastest read on a new or fast-moving fire, often ahead of anything hitting official channels. Overlay it on an official NIFC perimeter and you can see where a fire is actively advancing versus where it's already burned out.
• Active: Wildfire Hotspots
  Raw satellite heat detections, color-coded by confidence. Good for quick spot-checks on flare-ups or new heat anomalies. Keep in mind this is heat, not a confirmed burn boundary, so pair it with wind data if you're trying to gauge direction.
• Authoritative Record: Wildfire (NIFC Points & Perimeters)
  The official federal record of fire origins and mapped perimeters. This is your standard for exposure calculations, claims verification, and anything regulatory-facing. A couple of things worth knowing going in: NIFC perimeters only grow, they don't shrink as containment progresses, and a fire can stay open in the federal system well after it's out. See the NIFC data article for how that affects date-range queries.
• Forward-Looking: OroraTech Wildfire Spread Predictions (Premium)
  Projects where an active fire is headed over the next 24 hours, assuming no suppression. Useful for getting ahead of the fire: flagging at-risk policies for early outreach, or checking whether a moratorium boundary is about to be outrun. Full details on cluster confidence and refresh timing are in the OroraTech article.

Layers Worth Adding Alongside Your Query

These aren't wildfire perils themselves, but they round out the picture during an active event:

• Genasys Evacuation Zones: Official evacuation warnings and orders. Useful for ALE claim decisions and prioritizing outreach in evacuated areas.
• HRRR Forecast Surface Smoke (PM2.5): A saved layer, found under My Data > Layers or Layer Editor > Saved, showing forecasted ground-level smoke concentration. Worth adding when you need to account for smoke damage or air-quality exposure beyond the fire perimeter itself.
• HRRR Forecast Max Wind Gusts: Also a saved layer (My Data > Layers or Layer Editor > Saved). Peak forecasted gusts, useful context for anticipating erratic fire behavior or long-range embers.
• Observed & Predicted Precipitation: Helps flag either fire-dampening rain or, after containment, flash-flood and debris-flow risk on burned slopes.

A Few Practical Tips

• Buffer your perimeters: Embers travel well beyond the mapped edge of a fire, so a 3 to 5 mile buffer in Advanced Query Options helps metrics capture properties at risk from spot fires, not just direct contact.
• Stack layers for a fuller picture: Append As New Peril Layer lets you view NIFC's official perimeter and Satellite Detected Burning's active signal on the same map at once.
• Pin tooltips when comparing multiple fires: Click a fire's tooltip, then the Padlock icon, to lock it in place while you open others. This is handy for regional complexes with several active incidents.