@James3967
This is an important discussion. We are former firefighters, in Northern California, a fire prone area. Fire here is natural, normal and necessary, as it is in most of the western states. Our home is remote, in the heavily forested mountains, with chaparral mixed in. As you likely know from the news, catastrophic fires here are not unusual, and after the last century of fire suppression, more serious than would normally be necessary. We are aware that remote residences such as ours, and those at urban/wilderness interfaces are compounding the potential. We spend most of the year maintaining and improving our firebreak, and maintaining the width and safety of our private access road.
During the fire season we open our calendar week by week, and not longer term, as we are unwilling to expose our guests to the risk of a fire in the region. The potential of evacuation or living with dense smoke as we all do when there's a fire anywhere near us, is not something we would wish to expose our guests to.
That means we welcome last minute bookings, only, and it is wise, imho. It removes the issue you explained. We offer a total refund without question in case of fire or other "act of god" emergency. We feel a responsibility to public safety, as our guests come here for the safe and pleasant experience, which we are pledged to provide. We do the same in winter, when snow and ice may present issues that the public may not find easy to deal with. Last March we were here at home for almost 3 weeks with all 3 of our 4WD vehicles stuck in the snow. At the first hint of this storm we closed our calendar.
Like you, we believe that public safety is paramount, and take this seriously. We maintain a full pantry for ourselves and anyone stuck here in a storm. Our fire and ambulance services come by air, and are limited by supply, which in a rural area - mountainous or otherwise - are dealing with regional as well as local need.
The platform cannot take care of all of us; however, a better way for you to handle these situations is to not take longer term reservations during high risk times. Instead of you cancelling a reservation, it would be easier bureaucratically for the guest to cancel, as there is not a penalty to you as a host if they do.
Best wishes and excellent holidays to you!