Veterans, Wildfire, and Market Forces: A Conversation on Firestorm Economics
Featuring XyloPlan Co-Founder Dave Winnacker on Hoover Institution’s Frontline Voices
When devastating wildfires hit California again in early 2025, national attention returned to a familiar question: How is this still happening, and what can we do differently?
On a recent episode of Frontline Voices, XyloPlan Co-Founder and retired Fire Chief Dave Winnacker joined fellow Marine and co-founder Donnie Hasseltine for a powerful conversation on the real drivers of wildfire risk, and why traditional responses aren’t enough.
Hosted by Mike Steadman and produced by Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, the episode explores how these veterans-turned-innovators are reframing the problem through the lens of economics, insurance market dynamics, and community-scale resilience.
Listen to the full episode here.
Highlights from the conversation:
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- Why wildfire is no longer a rural issue, and how urban fire spread is becoming the new threat
- How pricing signals and insurance access can incentivize proactive risk reduction
- What’s really driving the insurance market collapse, and why building codes alone won’t fix it
- The difference between activity and outcomes in wildfire mitigation
- How small-scale, low-cost actions like clearing brush or installing ember-resistant vents can prevent community-scale loss
- Why risk modeling, especially Fire Pathways, matters now more than ever
As Dave explains:
“This is not a problem of knowing what to do. It’s a problem of doing it at scale: parcel by parcel, neighborhood by neighborhood.”
From military-inspired “defense in depth” strategies to better integration between residents, insurers, and fire departments, the conversation calls for more than response. It demands systemic change.
This episode reinforces why XyloPlan’s mission goes beyond maps and models. We help communities and insurers see wildfire not as an abstract threat, but as a solvable systems challenge with tools to quantify, prioritize, and act.