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Reno wildfire burns 15,000 acres as Nevada's new coverage carveout tested
Nevada lawmakers gave insurers explicit authority starting Jan. 1, 2026 to remove wildfire coverage from standard homeowners policies, and the state lacks a FAIR Plan fallback, leaving residents without an insurer of last resort.
A wildfire on the outskirts of Reno was still uncontained as of Monday, with dry, windy conditions prompting the Reno Fire Department to warn the blaze could remain active for another 48 hours. First reported Saturday at 11:15 a.m. local time, the fire has burned roughly 15,000 acres, and about 90,000 people remain under evacuation notices with no return timeline yet, according to Insurance Business.
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency for Washoe County and the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. The outlet said shifting winds are likely to shape the fire’s behavior, with southwest winds by day pushing it toward the city and southeast winds by night favoring firefighters.
Insurance Business linked the fire’s industry significance to Nevada’s new property insurance law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2026, under which the state became the first to allow insurers to remove wildfire coverage from standard homeowners policies entirely. The law, Assembly Bill 376, lets insurers either carve wildfire coverage out as a standalone product or exclude it with no replacement offered at all.
The outlet added that Nevada has no FAIR Plan, unlike California and many other states that maintain state-backed options for homeowners who cannot obtain coverage in the private market. It noted Nevada’s Division of Insurance recorded 481 wildfire-related homeowner policy cancellations in 2023, an 82.0% increase from the prior year, and that a companion bill to create a FAIR Plan option died during the same session.
Insurance Business also recalled past Reno-area wildfire impacts, including the 2020 Pinehaven Fire that destroyed five homes and evacuated more than 1,300 households, and the 2024 Davis Fire that destroyed 14 structures and forced roughly 20,000 people to evacuate.