Monday, August 3, 2026 · Where money enters, moves through, and leaves the wildfire economy

By Jake Kostecki · ~4 min read

Capital markets keep leaning into wildfire. Wildfire-exposed catastrophe-bond issuance has reached $5.183B year-to-date in 2026 — already nearing 2025's full-year record of $5.55B for the peril (Artemis, Aug 3). At the other end of the trade, retardant leader Perimeter Solutions (PRM) printed a record $213.8M Q2 top line (+31%) but flat core Fire-Safety EBITDA and a margin miss — and the stock fell roughly 18%. Everyone wants wildfire risk priced; nobody wants to overpay for it.

The utilities kept writing checks and warnings. Edison (EIX) posted Q2 core EPS of $1.54 (+59%), reaffirmed $5.90–$6.20, and laid out a $38–$41B capex build through 2030 — even as it still can't put a GAAP number on Eaton with 30,000+ suits filed. SCE's direct-pay program has now crossed $775M offered / $375M paid, and a fresh RAMP filing pencils $2.5B of 2029–2032 grid-hardening. And the money kept moving into fire tech: MSCI completed its $120M purchase of climate-risk modeler First Street, a new venture — Orbital Sentry — closed a Ridgeline-led pre-seed to build geosynchronous fire-detection satellites, and NOAA bought wildfire detection from orbit ($2.51M to Muon). Follow the money.

AUG 6 PRINTS · Bridger Aerospace (BAER) Q2 — the only public pure-play aerial firefighter reports mid-season Aug 6, with Hawaiian Electric (HE) following Aug 7. A real-time read on Super Scooper utilization and the new $58M Texas surveillance build. GlobeNewswire →

AUG 21 CLOSES · Yavapai County Title III (AZ) — ~$296,451 for Firewise education, CWPP hazardous-fuels work, mitigation assessments and vegetation removal. Local/emergency-services entities in-county. Due Aug 21, 5 p.m.; preliminary decisions Oct 5. A rare open local window while the big state faucets are shut. Details →

SEP 30 CLOSES · FM Global Fire Prevention Grant (the moat) — insurer-administered seed grants reviewed quarterly, next cutoff Sep 30; no published cap. Any U.S. org supporting fire prevention — departments, brigades, community groups — for pre-incident planning, prevention education and arson work. Money with no Grants.gov equivalent. FM Global →

OCT 8 CLOSES · Colorado FRWRM Grant — Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation. ~$7.04M available (up to $2M for capacity-building), no per-award cap, 1:1 match (25% for lower-resource areas). Local govs, utilities, nonprofits, tribes; WUI projects benefiting more than one property. Opened Aug 3, closes Oct 8, 2026. Colorado State Forest Service →

FALL — WATCH · California Fire Foundation Prop 4 Grant (the moat) — $13.8M allocated, awards up to $1M, no match required, for fire departments, associations, nonprofits and tribes. Foundation-administered state money that routes around Grants.gov — window drops Fall 2026 (dates TBA). Queue up now. Foundation →

SOON — WATCH · USFS Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Round 4 — Round 3 ($200M; 58 projects) closed March 2025 as the final funded year of the FY22–26 authorization; state foresters say a next NOFO is "expected Summer 2026," but nothing is live on Grants.gov yet. The biggest federal fuels faucet — still dry today. USFS →

DEAL MONEY · via MSCI

MSCI completes its First Street buy — $120M cash plus contingent for climate-risk models — Aug 3: MSCI closed its acquisition of climate-risk modeler First Street (announced June 23–24), paying $120.0M cash at closing plus undisclosed contingent payments over two years tied to revenue thresholds, per MSCI's Q2 10-Q; First Street's physics-based wildfire and climate hazard models fold into MSCI's Sustainability & Climate segment. Wildfire-risk analytics is consolidating into the index giants — a public comp and an exit path for every hazard-model and property-risk vendor.

DEAL MONEY · via Orbital Sentry

Orbital Sentry closes a Ridgeline-led pre-seed for geosynchronous fire detection — Aug 3: the Washington, DC deep-tech startup closed a pre-seed round led by Ridgeline, with Superorganism and Hustle Fund (size undisclosed; no Form D on file). Its "Fire Sentry" platform is a geosynchronous persistent-infrared satellite built to detect wildfires within seconds of ignition and livestream their spread to responders, utilities and insurers. Fresh venture money chasing the same space-based-detection thesis NOAA just validated with Muon — the private bet that fires get caught in the first minutes.

FUND MONEY · via Ember Peak Capital

A dedicated wildfire-risk fund is openly hunting deal flow — Ember Peak Capital, a Bozeman alternative-asset manager (formerly Encore Investment Management) structuring Lloyd's of London special-purpose vehicles and insurance-linked securities against wildfire risk — $21.28M raised in its Encore SPV I vehicle per a Sept 2025 Form D/A — says it is looking for wildfire mitigation and detection startups seeking capital. It shares an address and two executives (CEO Susanne Meline and MD Levi Blair) with Wildfire Defense Systems. A specialist allocator courting founders — a live, non-obvious capital source for anyone building in fire.

CAT BOND MONEY · via Artemis.bm

Wildfire-exposed cat bond issuance hits $5.183B YTD — nearing 2025's full-year record — Aug 3: $5.183B of 2026 cat-bond issuance carries wildfire exposure, closing on the $5.55B full-year record set in 2025, across ~20 mostly multi-peril series (recent July deals: Matterhorn Re 2026-3 $345M, 3264 Re 2026-1 $200M). Capital-markets appetite to take wildfire risk is near an all-time high — cheaper cover for insurers and utilities, and a fatter pipeline for every ILS fund harvesting the spread.

PUBLIC · via GlobeNewswire

Perimeter prints record $213.8M — but flat Fire-Safety EBITDA sinks the stock ~18% — July 31: net sales $213.8M (+31%), adjusted EBITDA $105.6M — yet Fire-Safety segment EBITDA came in essentially flat and adjusted EPS of $0.35 missed the ~$0.42 view; shares fell ~18%. The purest public retardant play just reset the comp — "wildfire equals automatic pricing power" isn't holding, and every supplier gets marked to it.

UTILITY MONEY · via Edison International (EIX) Q2 call

SCE files RAMP with a $2.5B mitigation framework for 2029–2032 — July 30: a $2.5B safety-mitigation plan — 450 miles of covered conductor plus 190 miles of targeted undergrounding — on top of 800 miles of conductor and 90 miles of undergrounding already done since Jan 2025; 2029 capex guided to $8–9B. The next four-year grid-hardening wave at SCE, distinct from the $6.2B WMP — forward demand visibility for covered-conductor and undergrounding crews through 2032.

CONTRACTOR MONEY · via NOAA NESDIS

NOAA buys wildfire detection from orbit — $2.51M to Muon — July 31: a $2.51M contract for on-orbit multispectral infrared data to be used for wildfire detection, characterization and mapping, with a performance period of Aug 3, 2026 – June 3, 2027. A federal agency paying for commercial IR satellite data validates space-based detection as data-as-a-service — a public tell for every fire-detection vendor's revenue model.

LIABILITY MONEY · via Insurance Journal

Edison argues the Eaton tower was "idle since 1971" — a novel liability dodge — July 28: SCE contends the transmission tower tied to the Eaton Fire shouldn't trigger inverse-condemnation strict liability because it had been de-energized since 1971 and no longer counts as active public infrastructure — against a $750M+ compensation program and billions already paid by insurers. If dormant equipment can be reclassified out of strict liability, it rewires subrogation recoveries and utility credit across the West.

CONSUMER MONEY · via Cascade Business News

Oregon county opens a $500-per-homeowner defensible-space rebate Aug 1 — the Upper Deschutes reimbursement window covers work completed Aug 1 – Dec 15, 2026 at up to $500 per household. A small, concrete household voucher that funnels homeowners straight to defensible-space and fuels contractors — the county/RCD microgrant pattern worth tracking nationwide.

PRIVATE GRANT MONEY · via PG&E / California Fire Foundation

PG&E–Foundation preparedness grants pick winners starting Aug 10 — a $1.8M utility-administered program ($1M competitive) closed July 8; award notifications begin Aug 10. Foundation-and-utility money that never touches Grants.gov. Next week's awardee list is a fresh subcontract map for defensible-space and preparedness vendors — being early on these moat pools is the edge.

Checks written recently: MSCI → First Street owners, $120M cash at closing plus contingent (Aug 3). NOAA → Muon, $2.51M for infrared wildfire-detection data (Jul 31). SCE Eaton relief, $375M paid to date of $775M offered (Jul 30). Hawaiʻi DLNR fuels grants, $1.8M to eight community groups (Jul 29). Bridger Aerospace, $58M Texas surveillance build (Jul 27).

Awardee lists to watch (chase subcontracts): PG&E–California Fire Foundation preparedness grants — $1.8M program, notifications begin Aug 10. Hawaiʻi fuels awardees: ʻĀina Alliance, Waiohuli, Kailapa and West Kohala at $300K each; Mālama Learning Center ($298,828); ʻĀina Momona ($228,584).

Hiring signal of the week: Muon Space — Software Engineering Director, Infrared Data Products (building the FireSat wildfire-detection data pipeline). San Jose, CA, on-site. $231K–$260K, one of ~50+ open roles as the constellation scales from launch into sustained ops. Apply →

Post a listing — free during launch → [email protected]

WILDFIRE MONEY · part of WUI Media
Surviving Wildfires · the Surviving Wildfires Expo

Subscribe: wildfiremoney.com · Directories: directories.wildfiremoney.com · Advertise / sponsor: directories.wildfiremoney.com/sponsor or reply to this email

Written by Jake Kostecki. Every dollar figure verified against a primary or credible source as of August 3, 2026.