Cottonwood Fire and Floods (2026) and home insurance

The Cottonwood Fire left Utah homeowners with two very different claims. Damage from the fire itself, including smoke, is a standard homeowners claim. Damage from the flash floods and mudslides that poured off the burn scar in July is not: homeowners policies exclude flood and earth movement, and only a flood policy pays for that water. Few owners in the area had one, and the federal declaration that came in October pays for public repairs, not for houses.

What happened

The fire started around June 22, 2026; FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FM-5640) the next day. By late July it had burned more than 97,000 acres in Beaver and Piute counties, Governor Spencer Cox's office said, and the Deseret News later put it at nearly 100,000 acres with more than 150 structures destroyed.

Then the monsoon arrived on the bare slopes. A July 19 flash flood ran down to Interstate 15 and spread about five miles west of Beaver, the Deseret News reported, and the floods affected more than 200 homes. On July 22 the governor declared a state of emergency for Beaver, Piute and Sevier counties: flooding had damaged homes in Sevier County, including Koosharem, destroyed parts of State Route 153 in Beaver Canyon, and disrupted water systems serving Beaver City, Marysvale, Junction and Circleville.

On October 7, 2026, the President approved major disaster declaration DR-4948 for the fire, flooding and mudslides of July 13 to 24 in Beaver and Piute counties. It provides Public Assistance only, which reimburses governments for 75% of eligible repair costs; state and local officials identified at least $47 million in potentially eligible damage. FEMA's data show no Individual Assistance for households. No industry insured-loss estimate has been published.

What to do now

Sort your damage by cause before you talk to an adjuster, because the cause decides which policy pays.

• Fire, heat, embers and smoke. Covered under Coverage A (the house), B (sheds and fences) and C (contents). Smoke and ash in a standing house is a real claim; ask for testing and professional cleaning of HVAC and contents (wildfire smoke damage claims).
• Floodwater and mud. Excluded from homeowners policies by the flood and earth-movement exclusions (landslides and mudflow: what's covered, does homeowners insurance cover flooding?). An NFIP policy covers flood, including mudflow in its narrow definition, if you had one in force.
• Both. If fire damaged the house and then the flood finished it, document each separately with dated photos so the fire portion is paid in full.

If the house is a total loss, ask the insurer for the dwelling limit, any extended replacement cost, and the additional living expenses limit and time limit, all in writing (rebuilding after a wildfire: the insurance claim, underinsured after a disaster: your options). Build the contents list room by room; the home inventory builder gives a starting structure, and bank and card statements fill gaps.

Burn scars keep flooding for several years. If you do not have flood insurance, price it now. New NFIP policies normally wait 30 days, but FEMA allows a one-day wait for flooding that originates on federal land where post-wildfire conditions caused or worsened it, if the policy is bought by the fire's containment date or within 60 days after it (the 30-day flood insurance waiting period). Ask an agent whether that exception still applies to your address.

Claim rules and deadlines

The Utah Insurance Department has not issued special deadlines for this event, so Utah's ordinary rules apply. An insurer must acknowledge a notice of loss within 15 days, accept or deny within 30 days after a complete proof of loss with written updates every 45 days if it needs longer, and pay within 30 days of written proof of a covered loss (Utah Admin. Code R590-190). You have three years from the start of the loss to sue on the policy, and a policy cannot shorten that (Utah Code 31A-21-313). For a June fire loss, that runs to June 2029; the home insurance claim deadline calculator works out your dates.

Since January 1, 2026, insurers must use the state's mapped high-risk wildfire boundary to classify homes, and a nonrenewal for wildfire risk must state the facts behind it. If you get a nonrenewal after a fire claim, ask for that explanation in writing.

Where to get help

Call your insurer first and get every coverage decision in writing. If a claim stalls or a denial looks wrong, the Utah Insurance Department's property and casualty consumer staff are at 801-957-9305 or 800-439-3805 (toll free in Utah). Because DR-4948 includes no Individual Assistance, FEMA grants are not available to households for this event; county emergency managers in Beaver and Piute counties are the place to ask about local recovery help.