Latest Wildfire Headlines

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

Drought Contributes to Rise in North Dakota Wildfires

Jun 17 2021 // The number of wildfires this year in North Dakota has increased significantly, according to state officials, who cite extremely dry conditions.Data collected by the North Dakota Forest Service and the state Department of...

California OKs Farmers and Zesty.ai Wildfire Risk Assessments, Will Bring 30K New Homeowners Policies

Jun 16 2021 // California regulators have approved a plan by Farmers Insurance to assess wildfire risk by using a tool that combines artificial intelligence with high-resolution aerial photography.The carrier said the Z-Fire risk scoring...

Arizona Legislature Holding Special Wildfire Funding Session

Jun 16 2021 // The Arizona Legislature will convene in special session this week to consider adding $100 million in funding for fighting wildfires and to boost the amount of money available to clear hazardous brush and deal with the...

Russia Fights Wildfires in Siberia and the Far East

Jun 15 2021 // Russian emergency workers fought wildfires burning Sunday on more than 550 square kilometers (212 square miles) of territory mostly in Siberia and the Far East.The state agency responsible for fighting forest fires,...

Road Work Started Wildfire in Arizona Mining Town, Sheriff Says

Jun 11 2021 // A May 27 wildfire that destroyed or damaged 24 homes and threatened many other structures in the remote mining town of Bagdad was caused by construction equipment being used for road work, the Yavapai County...

Crews Battle Arizona Wildfire Threatening Communities

Jun 10 2021 // Firefighters in south-central Arizona have gained a toehold against a massive wildfire that has burned at least five structures and forced thousands of people to evacuate rural towns and shut down several highways.The...

Close Calls in Colorado Spark Push for Wildfire Mitigation

Jun 7 2021 // As the Missionary Ridge Fire raged in 2002, the Valley Fire, a second fire, broke out and destroyed six homes within hours near the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango.When residents returned after the Valley...

Western U.S. Wildfires Have Made Insurance Tough for Contractors

Jun 7 2021 // Things look bad with California’s ever-sooner wildfire season seemingly approaching and what’s shaping up to be a severe drought across the Western U.S.The plague of wildfires in the past few years in...

U.S. Western States Preparing for Summer Wildfire Season

Jun 1 2021 // Wearing soot-smudged, fire-resistant clothing and helmets, several wildland firefighters armed with hoes moved through a stand of ponderosa pines as flames tore through the underbrush.The firefighters weren’t there...

PG&E to Pay $150M for Botched Outages, California Wildfires

May 28 2021 // Pacific Gas & Electric is getting hit with a nearly $150 million bill for neglect that caused Northern California wildfires during the past two years and mismanagement of blackouts designed to prevent the...

California Seeing More Wildfires as Drought Intensifies

May 26 2021 // As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched by...

Western U.S. Wildfires Have Made Insurance for Contractors a Tough Buy

May 25 2021 // Things look bad with California’s ever-sooner wildfire season seemingly approaching and what’s shaping up to be a severe drought across the Western U.S.The plague of wildfires in the past few years in...

Crews Make Progress Against Los Angeles Wildfire

May 19 2021 // Firefighters increased containment of a Los Angeles wildfire and officials identified the man suspected of starting the blaze that prompted evacuations in canyon neighborhoods.Ramon Rodriguez Flores was detained Sunday...

1K Los Angeles Residents Ordered to Evacuate in Wildfire

May 17 2021 // About 1,000 Los Angeles residents were evacuation orders on Monday as firefighters protected canyon homes from a smoky wildfire that churned through vegetation that hasn’t burned in half a century.The cause of the...

Oregon Landowner Suit Seeks $103M from Public Utilities for Wildfire

May 17 2021 // A lawsuit filed on behalf of 70 landowners in Oregon’s McKenzie River Valley seeks $103 million from Lane Electric Cooperative and Eugene Water and Electric Board for damages linked to one of the Labor Day fires that...

Private Firefighting Firms Add to Tension While Saving Vineyards, Mansions From Wildfires

May 17 2021 // Last October, firefighter Ryan Bellanca and his crew battled to keep the raging Glass Fire in California from devastating an upmarket Napa Valley vineyard.But Bellanca wasn’t working for any fire department. He owns...

California Commissioner Calls on Insurers to Do More to Boost Wildfire Prep

May 13 2021 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara called for property insurers in the state to step up and do more to help residents and businesses deal with wildfires.Lara on Thursday gave an update on the actions and...

California Wildfire Victims See Little Payout from PG&E Settlement

May 11 2021 // A trust approved by a federal judge to help compensate victims of deadly California wildfires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment paid survivors just $7 million while racking up $51 million in overhead in its...

Judge Weighs Whether PG&E Violated Probation With 2019 California Fire

May 6 2021 // A federal judge is weighing whether Pacific Gas & Electric violated its criminal probation by sparking a wildfire north of San Francisco that destroyed more than 100 homes and injured six firefighters in October...

Delos Announces New Capacity for California Wildfire Areas

Apr 27 2021 // San Francisco, Calif.-based Delos Insurance Solutions announced an agreement with reinsurance companies that the firm said will result in a five-fold increase in insurance capacity for California homeowners in areas prone...