Frequently Asked Questions

Conventional vegetation management and fuel reduction programs produce a work record — what was done, when, where. CFI™ produces a measurement record — what the fuel condition is, quantified at the plot level, before and after treatment, sealed so the data cannot be changed. The distinction matters because an insurer, regulator, or auditor can verify a measurement in a way they cannot verify a work order. "We treated Zone 2" is a claim. A sealed CFI™ record with plot-level coverage and concentration data is evidence.

Each plot measurement is hashed — a unique fingerprint of the data is computed and written to PlotSeal™. If any field in the record is changed after sealing, the hash no longer matches. This is the same technology that underpins digital document signing and secure financial records. The practical effect: the sealed record is independently verifiable by anyone who holds it. You don't take HPS's word that the treatment happened. You verify the hash. No edits, no revisions, no "corrected" records — the chain is immutable.

RiskWise™ is a five-phase managed program delivered annually: Assess (field walkdown, georeferenced hazard mapping, baseline fuel measurements), Plan (treatment design, zone definition, application schedule), Protect (GPS-logged retardant application, plot-level field measurement at application), Document (PlotSeal™ record sealing — every plot hashed and written to the immutable vault), and Sustain (pre-season inspection, conformance re-evaluation, re-application where coverage has degraded). The program is annual and the record compounds — each year's seal chain builds on the last, creating a documented treatment history that grows in value with the asset.

It depends on asset size and complexity. A single turbine string or a substation can be assessed in a day. A large utility-scale solar facility or a multi-mile transmission corridor may require several days in the field. The Phase 1 output — the Assessment Dossier — includes a georeferenced fuel hazard layer (GFHL), zone-by-zone risk summary, access constraint documentation, and the baseline measurements that anchor every treatment decision. No proposal is generated before a field walkdown. Satellite estimates do not substitute for field data.

Yes. The Assessment Dossier is a standalone deliverable. Some operators want an independent baseline before their own team or a third-party applicator acts. The Dossier gives them georeferenced fuel hazard data, zone-level risk classification, and field measurements that hold up to scrutiny — the same foundation that an HPS treatment program would build on. If you decide to proceed with RiskWise™ treatment afterward, the assessment work carries forward. No re-measurement.

Treatment is applied in concentric zones radiating outward from the critical asset. Zone 1 — Critical Equipment: the immediate asset envelope (panels, inverters, transformers, turbine bases, battery enclosures). Highest application rate, zero tolerance for fuel continuity. Zone 2 — Asset Perimeter: the buffer ring (access roads, fence lines, equipment pads, perimeter vegetation). Treated to interrupt fire spread before it reaches the asset. Zone 3 — Access & Operations: the outer operational area (crew staging, ingress/egress corridors, utility runs). Maintains safe access during and after a fire event. Zone 4 — Pasture/Land Interface: for ranch and working-land engagements — the wildland-agricultural or wildland-urban interface where fire typically enters.

PlotSeal™ is the multi-tenant, multi-operator vault that holds the sealed treatment record. It is independent record infrastructure — not an HPS proprietary database. HPS is the first operator on PlotSeal™, but the system is designed to scale beyond any single service provider. This matters for the long-term defensibility of your record: the vault is not controlled by HPS, so the record persists independent of any single service relationship. Insurers, auditors, regulators, and counterparties read from the same sealed chain as the operator.

Access is controlled at the operator level. You determine who can read your record — your insurer, your regulator, a counterparty, a board committee. The Open Interface within CFI™ means the record is designed to be shareable and verifiable by any party you authorize, without requiring them to trust HPS or PlotSeal™ itself — the hash is the proof, not anyone's representation of it. You can present the sealed record to a third party and they can verify its integrity independently.

The record stays in PlotSeal™. It is your record, not HPS's. Because PlotSeal™ is multi-operator infrastructure, a future service provider — if they operate on PlotSeal™ — can append new seals to the same chain. If they do not, your historical record remains intact and verifiable. The chain does not break because you change who applies the retardant; it only extends when a new conforming treatment is documented and sealed.

HPS is product-neutral. We source the best-fit product for each engagement from a shortlist of approved, EPA-reviewed, PFAS-free, non-corrosive long-term fire retardants. We do not carry a single-vendor product relationship. This keeps us independent from supplier constraints and lets us match product chemistry to fuel type, application zone, and asset sensitivity. Product selection is documented in the Treatment Plan and recorded in the PlotSeal™ seal — so the record shows what was applied, at what concentration, not just "retardant was used."

A treated buffer changes the fuel's ignition and spread characteristics without requiring the land to be cleared. On active generation sites, ranches, and utility corridors, removing all vegetation is impractical, environmentally constrained, and in many cases counterproductive — bare soil erodes, root systems destabilize, re-establishment requires ongoing work, and many sites have NERC FAC-003 or similar obligations that require managed vegetation rather than elimination. Long-term retardants are applied pre-season and hold efficacy through fire season. The CFI™ protocol measures actual fuel condition to confirm the buffer is performing — not assumed from the application record.

Yes. Products in the HPS approved set are non-corrosive (safe around metal infrastructure), PFAS-free (no per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), and have undergone EPA review for environmental safety. Application zones and buffer setbacks are documented in the Treatment Plan. For ranch engagements, products are selected with specific attention to livestock exposure paths and grazing reintroduction timelines. If you have a specific asset sensitivity concern — a particular equipment type, an environmental setback, a soil-type constraint — that is documented in the Assessment and addressed in product selection.

High Plains Shield serves open markets — any market where measured-fuel wildfire risk work is needed. We do not publish a named-state list or a footprint wall. Engagements are scoped to your assets, fuel conditions, and timing. If the work is a fit for CFI™ measurement, treatment, and sealed documentation, get in touch.

No named-state limit. We evaluate each opportunity on fuel risk, asset class, logistics, and whether we can deliver sealed ground-truth evidence correctly. We don't stretch the operation thin — if we can't do it right, we'll say so. Reach out and we'll have a straight conversation.

Pricing is per-engagement, based on treated acreage, zone configuration, access logistics, and application complexity. We don't publish a rate sheet because every site is different — fuel loads vary, access varies, zone configuration varies. All pricing is budgetary until we have field measurements and GIS mapping in hand. After the Phase 1 Assessment, we provide a Treatment Design with a fixed-scope proposal. That is the number you can put in front of a board. The assessment call is the starting point.

Typically 4–8 weeks from first call to boots on the ground, depending on asset size, access logistics, and schedule coordination. The sequence is: introductory call → site walkdown → Assessment Dossier delivery → Treatment Design and proposal → contract execution → pre-season application. If you're approaching fire season and need to move faster, tell us — we will tell you honestly whether the timeline is feasible. We don't oversell speed and underdeliver on quality.

There is no hard minimum on acreage, but the fixed costs of mobilization, field assessment, and PlotSeal™ record infrastructure mean the program is most cost-effective at the facility level — a single turbine, a substation, a collection station, a pipeline segment, a BESS block. Single-asset or small-footprint engagements are absolutely feasible. We've served ranch operations with a single structure as the primary asset. If you're not sure whether your site justifies the program, that's what the introductory call is for.

Each year before fire season, a qualified field team re-inspects the treated zones, re-measures fuel condition against the conformance thresholds established in the original Treatment Design, and assesses product efficacy. Where coverage has degraded below threshold — typically due to precipitation, UV degradation, or new growth — re-application is scheduled. The Phase 5 inspection report documents the findings. Re-application is GPS-logged and plot-measured the same way as the initial treatment. The PlotSeal™ record is updated with a new seal that extends the chain without breaking it. Year two's record builds on year one. The chain grows; it does not restart.

You receive: the Treatment Certificate (the human-readable summary of what was treated, where, when, and by what standard); the PlotSeal™ Hash Record (the cryptographic chain — the machine-verifiable proof of conformance); an Audit-Ready Export (structured data formatted for insurer or regulatory submission); and the Annual Inspection Report (field findings, re-measurement results, and any coverage gaps addressed). These are yours. They belong in your O&M files, your risk management system, and your insurer's hands.

Every assessment and treatment report cites the applicable standards for the asset type. Across our sectors these include NFPA 850, NFPA 855, NFPA 1140, NERC FAC-003, IEEE C2 (NESC), PHMSA 49 CFR 192/195, IFC §1207, ANSI A300 Part 7, and UL 9540/9540A. The cited standard is documented in the Assessment Dossier, the Treatment Plan, and the PlotSeal™ record. HPS does not certify regulatory compliance — that determination belongs to the applicable authority having jurisdiction. What we provide is a defensible, field-measured record that supports your compliance position.

Insurers are increasingly asking whether operators can demonstrate that mitigation was actually performed — not just claimed. Spray logs and inspection certificates are claims. A sealed, hash-verifiable treatment record is evidence. The PlotSeal™ record gives your carrier something they can interrogate: plot-level coverage data, product documentation, field measurement timestamps, and a chain that shows the record has not been altered since sealing. Whether this translates to a premium reduction, a coverage endorsement, or simply a defensible position in a claim — that is between you and your carrier. We produce the record that makes that conversation possible.

Fire is not eliminated — it is resisted. A treated defensible buffer is designed to slow ignition, reduce flame intensity, and interrupt fire spread, giving suppression resources time to respond and protecting the critical asset from total loss. No treatment program eliminates wildfire risk, and HPS does not represent otherwise. What the program provides is a documented, measured, verifiable effort — one that holds up in a claim, a regulatory review, and an after-action investigation. The record shows what was done, when, to what standard, and to what measured level of coverage. That documentation has value regardless of whether a fire occurs.