Latest Wildfire Headlines

All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.

US Starts Criminal Probe Into PG&E Role in California Wildfire

Sep 27 2022 // Federal officials have initiated a criminal investigation into PG&E Corp.’s potential role in starting California’s largest wildfire of the year.On Sept. 24, the US Forest Service removed one of the...

California Commissioner Orders Another Insurance Cancellation Moratorium for Wildfire

Sep 22 2022 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday ordered insurance companies to preserve residential insurance coverage following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest wildfire emergency declarations.Lara’s...

Are you accurately assessing wildfire risk? Why granular data and foundational science matter

Sep 19 2022 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic.Climate change is having an impact on natural hazards all around the world — wildfires are more frequent, larger, and more intense than they have been in the past....

California Funding Research to Develop New Wildfire Defense Tools

Sep 19 2022 // The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is funding research to better predict who wildfires spread from burning wildlands to communities.CalFire awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers Albert...

California Commissioner Orders Insurance Cancellation Moratorium for new Wildfire

Sep 16 2022 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Friday ordered insurers to preserve residential insurance coverage following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest emergency declaration over as another major wildfire threatens...

Threat from Western Wildfires Persists Despite Help of Weather

Sep 12 2022 // Firefighters made progress against a huge Northern California wildfire that was still growing and threatening thousands of mountain homes on Sunday, while crews also battled major blazes that blanketed large swaths of...

California Company Says Machine Failure May Have Caused Wildfire

Sep 9 2022 // A wood products company said that it is investigating whether a fire that killed two people as it swept through a Northern California town was caused by the possible failure of a water-spraying machine used to cool ash at...

California Commissioner Wants Discounts from Insurers in New Wildfires Framework

Sep 7 2022 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday submitted an insurance pricing regulation to the California Office of Administrative Law to recognize and reward wildfire safety and mitigation efforts made by...

Wildfire Threatens Homes, Cabins Near Lake in Idaho

Sep 7 2022 // Roughly 200 people were told to evacuate and sheriff’s deputies were trying to track down campers and other recreationists after a wildfire exploded in Idaho’s scenic Sawtooth National Forest over the long...

Judge Tosses Charge Against Dive Boat Owner in California Fire That Killed 34

Sep 7 2022 // A Los Angeles federal judge threw out an indictment charging a dive boat captain with manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people in a 2019 fire aboard a vessel anchored off the Southern California coast.The ruling came on the...

California Wildfires Lead to Evacuations Amid Heat Wave

Sep 1 2022 // California wildfires erupted Wednesday in rural areas, racing through bone-dry brush and prompting evacuations as the state sweltered under a heat wave that could last through Labor Day.Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state...

Oregon Wildfire Threatening over 7,000 Structures

Aug 31 2022 // The Rum Creek Fire in remote southwest Oregon has burned nearly 18.75 square miles is threatening thousands of homes and is only about 1% contained.As of Tuesday morning, the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center said...

Record-Setting Wildfire in New Mexico Declared Contained

Aug 25 2022 // More than four grueling months and $300 million later, the federal government has declared the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history 100% contained, a notable milestone but just another step in what local...

Lawsuit Says Electrical Equipment Sparked Deadly California Wildfire

Aug 25 2022 // The daughter of a 76-year-old man killed last month when California’s deadliest wildfire so far this year swept through a remote town has sued a public utility, alleging its electrical equipment sparked the blaze.The...

Berkshire Unit Sued Over California’s Largest Wildfire of Season

Aug 22 2022 // A Berkshire Hathaway Inc. unit was sued for allegedly causing California’s largest wildfire of the year, which killed four people and destroyed almost 200 structures near the Oregon border.The complaint against...

California Insurance Commissioner Orders Moratorium on Cancellations, Non-Renewals Following Wildfires

Aug 15 2022 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has ordered insurers to preserve residential insurance coverage for 8,500 affected homes following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency declaration as wildfires in Siskiyou...

Wildfires Burn, Farmers Struggle as Another Heatwave Bakes Western Europe

Aug 12 2022 // European nations sent firefighting teams to help France tackle a “monster” wildfire on Thursday, while forest blazes also raged in Spain and Portugal and the head of the European Space Agency urged immediate...

Wildfires Rage in France, Destroying Homes, Forcing Evacuation of Residents

Aug 11 2022 // Wildfires tore through the Gironde region of southwestern France on Wednesday, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of 10,000 residents, some of whom had clambered onto rooftops as the flames got...

California’s Largest Wildfire Now 60% Contained

Aug 10 2022 // California’s largest wildfire so far this year has so far burned more than 60,000 acres, but it is now 60% contained.The McKinney Fire broke out on July 29 in an unpopulated area in Klamath National Forest. The fire...

2 New Mexico Counties Were Added to Wildfire Disaster Declaration

Aug 9 2022 // Two more New Mexico counties were added to a federal disaster declaration issued in response to the state’s historic wildfire season.State officials said that Los Alamos and Sandoval counties will now be eligible for...