Surviving Wildfire and Keeping Your Home Insured with Bill Steward and Kevin Musico

🎙️ Welcome to Healthy Happy Wise Wealthy!

In this timely and deeply practical episode, Mary Meyer sits down with two experts on the front lines of wildfire safety: Bill Steward, owner of Foresight Fire Consulting and a former fire captain with 25 years of public service, and Kevin Musico, co-owner of the Musico Agency with Goosehead Insurance. 

Recorded amid active fires in the Reno-Tahoe area, this conversation transforms a topic that can feel overwhelming and out of our control into something empowering and actionable. If you’ve ever felt helpless watching the news, wondering whether your home and family are truly protected, you’re not alone, and this episode offers real hope. 

Bill and Kevin explain why it’s often embers, not the fire front, that destroy homes, how simple steps like clearing the first five feet around your house can cut fire risk dramatically, and why insurance has changed so much in recent years. 

Together, they connect the dots between defensible space, home hardening, insurance decisions, HOAs, and community preparedness, showing that meaningful protection is within reach. You’ll come away informed, encouraged, and ready to take practical steps that could make all the difference.

🌟 Topics Covered:

  • Why embers, not the fire front, destroy most homes
  • The zero-to-five-foot non-combustible zone explained
  • Home hardening: roofs, vents, gutters, fences, and decks
  • Why insurance has become harder to get and keep
  • The rise of billion-dollar fire events and its ripple effects
  • What insurers now inspect and how to stay insurable
  • HOA responsibilities, reserves, and community preparedness
  • Building an evacuation plan with Ready, Set, Go

Key takeaways:

  • Small, affordable steps can cut your home’s fire risk dramatically
  • Clear the first five feet around your home of anything combustible
  • A newer, non-combustible roof is one of your best protections
  • Be honest and thorough with your insurance to stay covered
  • Get involved in your HOA and know your community’s plan
  • Prevention and preparation put real control back in your hands

Some questions I ask:

  • Has the fire situation truly gotten worse over the years?
  • Why have so many families lost insurance on their homes?
  • What exactly is the five-foot zone around your house?
  • What are insurance companies looking for now?
  • If you were replacing a roof, fence, or deck, what would you use?
  • What can an HOA do to help mitigate fire risk?
  • Where can rural homeowners find water and preparedness resources?
  • What is the Ready, Set, Go plan?

Learn more about our guests:

William Steward, Foresight Fire Consulting

As a retired Fire Captain Bill brings more than 25 years of experience in the fire service, both in suppression and prevention. A Nevada resident for the past 30 years, Bill has fought some of the region’s most devastating fires, including the Arrowcreek, Little Valley, and Caughlin Ranch fires. He also served for three years as the Fire Prevention Specialist for the Truckee Fire Department, where he focused on community education and fire mitigation.

Kevin Musico, the Musico Agency with Goosehead Insurance 

As a Goosehead Insurance Agent, I can shop with dozens of “A” rated (or better) insurance companies to find you the right coverage for the best value. With more than 30 years of business and risk related experience across many industries, fulfilling unique personal insurance needs for you and your family is second nature. We are a family owned and operated agency ready to help you with Home, Renters, Auto, Landlord, Life, Recreational (Boat, RV, ATV, Motorcycle, Snowmobile, Classic and Collectible Cars, and more), Flood, Earthquake, Umbrella coverage, and more.

Resource List:

Apps or tools mentioned: 

  1. Watch Duty (wildfire tracking app): https://app.watchduty.org/
  2. Alert Wildfire: https://www.alertwildfire.org/
  3. Fire cameras (search “Fire Cameras Reno”): https://app.watchduty.org/camera/12219
  4. National Weather Service red flag warnings: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/fire

Programs mentioned: 

  1. Ready, Set, Go evacuation program: https://www.iafc.org/topics-and-tools/resources/resource/ready-set-go-program
  2. NFPA Firewise Communities: https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa
  3. Firewise Community Cleanup Day (first Saturday of May): https://visittahoecity.org/cleanup/
  4. UNR Living With Fire: https://extension.unr.edu/living-with-fire/default.aspx
  5. Public Resource Code 4291 (California defensible space law): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=4291.&lawCode=PRC

Organizations mentioned: 

  1. NFPA National Fire Protection Association: https://www.nfpa.org/
  2. IBHS Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety: https://ibhs.org/
  3. FEMA, county emergency managers (Washoe County): https://washoecounty.gov/csd/engineering_capitalprojects/drainage_and_flooding/washoe-county-fema-programs/swan_lake_remapping/project_contacts.php
  4. Fannie Mae: https://www.fanniemae.com/
  5.  Freddie Mac: https://www.freddiemac.com/

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Mary Meyer is a podcast host, actor, sales professional, mother and entrepreneur helping people and organizations share meaningful conversations that support health, wisdom, clarity, and growth.

Produced by the All-Talented Erika Christie 

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