US commercial property insurer FM has bought FortressFire, a wildfire intelligence company that uses machine learning alongside physics-based modelling.
The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal
FortressFire will operate as an independent, wholly owned division of FM. FM chairman and CEO Malcolm Roberts said: “FortressFire shares FM’s core belief in the power of data-driven, location-based risk mitigation and protection measures to help clients better understand and manage wildfire exposure. “The FortressFire team brings powerful tools to assess and mitigate wildfire risk, and we are excited to welcome them to the FM family.” FortressFire’s platform is designed to help insurers and property owners assess and manage wildfire exposure at the level of individual properties. It provides a range of wildfire intelligence services, including aerial wildfire reports, monitoring, analytics, ground inspections and mitigation assessments.
FM said FortressFire will continue to serve insurers, reinsurers, brokers, real estate professionals, lenders and property owners across the market under its existing brand and leadership. FortressFire founder, chairman and CEO Michael Ashker said: “For years we’ve argued that the best risk management is ignition prevention – and that the path to insurability runs through science. “To have an engineering-focused insurer of FM’s calibre put its capital and conviction behind that thesis is the strongest possible validation of what our team has built.” “FM acquires wildfire intelligence provider FortressFire” was originally created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand