Friday, July 31, 2026 · Where money enters, moves through, and leaves the wildfire economy

By Jake Kostecki · ~4 min read

Perimeter Solutions (PRM) posted the biggest quarter in its history this morning — $213.8M in revenue, up 31% year over year, with Adjusted EBITDA of $105.6M — then turned around and spent $120M buying fire-detection and life-safety maker Monaco Enterprises. The category's only pure-play retardant house just told the market where it thinks the next margin dollar lives: not in chemistry, in detection.

The utilities kept the checks moving. Southern California Edison has now offered north of $750M to Eaton Fire victims — $743M across 2,100+ offers, $314M already paid — while reaffirming $5.90–$6.20 in 2026 core EPS against roughly $1B in booked wildfire liability. Xcel cleared $586M in Q2 net income but warned its Texas Smokehouse Creek tab could punch through what's left of its insurance. And in Texas, Bridger Aerospace booked a hard $58M to stand up a state surveillance fleet. Follow the money.

AUG 3 OPENS · 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. Opens Aug 3, closes Oct 8, 2026. Colorado State Forest Service →

AUG 6 PRINTS · Bridger Aerospace (BAER) Q2 — the only public pure-play aerial firefighter reports mid-season Aug 6. A real-time read on Super Scooper contract demand and the new Texas surveillance build. GlobeNewswire →

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

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; implementation up to $10M) closed March 2025; multiple state foresters say the next NOFO is "expected Summer 2026." The biggest federal fuels faucet — still dry today. USFS →

DEAL MONEY · via GlobeNewswire

Perimeter buys Monaco Enterprises for $120M, moves into fire detection — Closed July 30 at $120.0M cash (net of cash), ~10.5x the more than $11M of annualized Adjusted EBITDA Monaco is expected to add. The retardant leader is bolting life-safety and detection systems onto a chemicals franchise. Every fire-detection and life-safety vendor just got a public comp — and a strategic acquirer.

CONTRACTOR MONEY · via Bridger Aerospace

Bridger lands $58M to build Texas's wildfire aviation surveillance program — $58M, three-year term (July 27): three King Air 360s modified in Texas for detection, situational awareness, cargo and Medevac, delivered for Texas A&M Forest Service. A hard, named award as states stand up their own fire fleets — the work aviation modifiers and vendors chase.

GRANT MONEY · via Hawaiʻi DLNR

Hawaiʻi awards $1.8M in fuels-reduction grants to eight groups — July 29: $1.8M total, individual awards up to $300K — firebreaks, invasive-vegetation removal, managed grazing, ladder-fuel work. Fresh money flowing straight to local fuels contractors; the awardee list is your subcontract map (below).

LIABILITY MONEY · via Edison Newsroom

Eaton direct-pay tracker: 2,100+ offers in, ~9,900 claimants still to come — The running count on the West's biggest live utility wildfire tab: offers to 2,100+ of ~12,000 total claimants, individual checks ranging $15K to $15.1M, against a claim deadline of Nov 30, 2026. Watch the paid-vs-offered gap and the claimant backlog — that's where the next $400M+ of this liability actually settles.

UTILITY MONEY · via CA Energy Safety

SCE's $6.2B 2026–2028 wildfire plan clears amendment — Approved June 12: a $6.2B three-year Wildfire Mitigation Plan — ~260 miles of new undergrounding plus covered conductor. Three locked years of grid-hardening and line-clearing demand for SoCal vendors.

LIABILITY MONEY · via The Canyon Weekly

263 new plaintiffs line up for PacifiCorp settlements — July 17: prior deals total $328M across 1,837 plaintiffs, on top of a separate $575M federal deal in Feb 2026; Oregon Supreme Court hears the verdict appeal Nov 3. Utility wildfire liability keeps compounding years after the burn — a template every WMP sponsor is pricing.

INSURANCE MONEY · via Claims Journal

FAIR Plan's $44B is concentrated in just nine wealthy ZIP codes — July 22: nine ZIPs hold $44B of FAIR exposure (up 135% since 2022) — Lake Tahoe $9B, Lake Arrowhead $7B — against ~$700B total residential exposure; regulators authorized a $1B insurer collection, half recoupable via $11–$176 policyholder surcharges. The insurer of last resort is the systemic-risk story — one bad fire assesses every California carrier.

CAT BOND MONEY · via Artemis.bm

Mercury's $150M Luca Re wildfire cat bond priced 19% below guidance — June 23 (latest wildfire-specific issuance): upsized 50% to $150M, coupon 5.25% at the bottom of range, 1.09% expected loss, three-year California wildfire + fire-following-quake cover. Post-LA-fires, capital markets are underwriting California wildfire risk cheaper — a tailwind for every fire-exposed insurer's reinsurance spend.

PUBLIC · via StockTitan

Xcel prints $586M in Q2 — but Smokehouse Creek may exceed its insurance — July 30: net income $586M, 2026 guide reaffirmed $4.04–$4.16; Marshall Fire settlements total $640M, and on Texas Smokehouse Creek ($460M estimated losses, $404M settled) only ~$80M of insurance remains — the company warns liabilities "could exceed insurance coverage." The clearest case of a utility wildfire tab punching through the insurance tower — watch the equity and the bonds.

PRIVATE GRANT MONEY · via California Fire Foundation

The moat: $13.8M of Prop 4 money routes through a foundation, not Grants.gov — $13.8M allocated to the Foundation, awards up to $1M, no match, for fire departments, associations, nonprofits and tribes — window drops Fall 2026. Foundation- and utility-administered pools are the awards most operators never see listed; being early is the edge.

MONEY LEAVING · via FEMA / NACo

BRIC is back from the dead — but its July 23 window may already be shut — The reinstated $1B BRIC NOFO (per-project cap $20M) carried a July 23 deadline; a shutdown-era extension into August was reportedly under discussion but is unconfirmed — verify with your State Hazard Mitigation Officer before chasing. Separately, the $648M FEMA AFG/SAFER/FP&S cycle closed June 22, and California's $70M CAL FIRE Prevention and $15.9M Sierra Nevada directed pools closed in July. A run of federal and state faucets just went quiet — pivot to the windows still open above.

Checks written recently: Perimeter → Monaco owners, $120M (Jul 30). Bridger Aerospace, $58M Texas surveillance build (Jul 27). SCE Eaton relief, $314M paid to date of $743M offered (Jul 16). Hawaiʻi DLNR fuels grants, $1.8M to eight groups (Jul 29).

Awardee list to watch (Hawaiʻi fuels — chase subcontracts): ʻĀina Alliance, Waiohuli, Kailapa and West Kohala at $300K each; ʻĀina Momona ($228,584); Mālama Learning Center ($298,828).

Hiring signal of the week: Muon Space — Senior Remote Sensing Data Scientist, Cal/Val (supports FireSat infrared calibration). Remote, US persons / ITAR. $138K–$198K + equity, part of a ~40+ role hiring surge as the constellation scales from launch to sustained ops. Apply →

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

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Written by Jake Kostecki. Every dollar figure verified against a primary or credible source as of July 31, 2026.