Good news first. Yes, fire is a covered peril on basically every Boulder homeowners policy, wildfire included. You don’t need a special wildfire add-on the way you need separate flood coverage.
Now the part we actually spend our time on at Uncle Sheldon Insurance. After the Marshall Fire, the questions Boulder homeowners ask us changed. It’s less “am I covered” and more “am I covered enough, and will I still have a policy next year?”
Is your dwelling limit big enough? Plenty of Marshall Fire families found out their coverage was set years ago while building costs raced ahead. Rebuilding after a wildfire often costs more than a normal rebuild, since the whole neighborhood is hiring the same contractors at once. Extended replacement cost helps, and so does ordinance or law coverage, which pays to bring a new house up to today’s codes. We look at that right away on Boulder home policies.
What about your stuff? Colorado changed its rules after the Marshall Fire, so in a declared wildfire disaster a big share of your contents coverage can be paid without a room-by-room inventory. A quick video walkthrough of your house once a year still helps.
Where would you live? Additional living expenses cover rent while you rebuild, and rebuilds take a long time. Check how many months your policy gives you.
Smoke counts too. Even a house that doesn’t burn can need serious cleanup or repairs from smoke and ash, and that’s typically part of your fire coverage.
And the non-renewal problem. A few carriers have backed away from homes near the foothills and open space, and it isn’t just a Boulder thing, as we saw looking at wildfire risk in Arvada. If you get a non-renewal letter, don’t panic. As brokers we shop multiple carriers, and Colorado now has a FAIR Plan as a backstop for homes nobody else will write. Boulder County’s Wildfire Partners program helps too, with a free assessment and a certificate once the work is done, which some insurers take into account.
Our Boulder wildfire coverage page goes deeper on neighborhoods and limits.