Latest Wildfire Headlines

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

Why Does California Keep Burning? These Scientists Are Studying Answers.

Sep 16 2020 // Residents of fire-ravaged Western states, and an entire world of observers looking on in horror, have asked themselves, “How can this be happening?”As fire last week taunted Paradise, California, destroyed in...

3 Reasons People Don’t Buy Homeowners’ Insurance

Sep 16 2020 // I recently learned about two separate times when families lost everything when their homes burned. These are tragic losses and thankfully, the only things that were lost were replaceable items. No one got hurt, but they...

Colorado Wildfire Destroyed 25 Residential Buildings, 54 Structures

Sep 15 2020 // A month-old northern Colorado wildfire has destroyed 25 residential buildings and a total of 54 structures, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office says.The fire near Red Feather Lakes has burned 160 square miles and was...

Bad Air From Western Wildfires Just Won’t Ease up

Sep 15 2020 // Relief from putrid, dangerous air spewing from massive wildfires across the West won’t come until later in the week or beyond, scientists and forecasters say, and the hazy and gunk-filled skies might stick around for...

Oregon Employers Urged to Protect Workers by Avoiding Outdoor Work

Sep 14 2020 // Oregon workplace and public health officials are urging employers to stop or delay outdoor work activity where they can and take other reasonable steps to protect workers when air quality reaches the...

CalFire: 14K Firefighters on the Line at 29 Major Wildfires

Sep 11 2020 // As critical fire weather conditions subsided, firefighters accomplished full containment on one of the many fires burning in the state, according to the latest report from CalFire.Roughly 14,000 firefighters remain on the...

Wildfires Grow in Oregon as 500K Evacuated, Death Toll Rises

Sep 11 2020 // Around half a million people in Oregon evacuated as dozens of extreme, wind-driven wildfires scorched U.S. West Coast states on Friday, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 16 people, state and local...

Report Urges Urgent Action from Financial Regulators to Address Climate Change

Sep 10 2020 // Yet another report in a long line of reports is out urging urgent action from financial regulators, including insurance regulators, the Federal Reserve and the Securities Exchange Commission.The report was commissioned by...

Explained: How California’s Wildfires Could Spark a Financial Crisis

Sep 10 2020 // Wildfires across the U.S. West are among the sparks from climate change that could ignite a U.S. financial crisis by damaging home values, state tourism and local government budgets, an advisory panel to a U.S. markets...

Strong Winds Kick up Pacific Northwest Wildfires

Sep 9 2020 // Hurricane-force winds and high temperatures kicked up wildfires across parts of the Pacific Northwest over the Labor Day weekend, burning hundreds of thousands of acres and mostly destroying the small town of Malden in...

Record 2 Million Acres Burned in California Wildfires

Sep 9 2020 // Wildfires have burned a record 2 million acres in California this year, and the danger for more destruction is so high the U.S. Forest Service announced Monday it was closing all eight national forests in the southern half...

California Burns, Winds Kick up And Power Outages Follow

Sep 8 2020 // New wildfires ravaged California during a scorching Labor Day weekend that saw a dramatic airlift of more than 200 people trapped by flames and ended with the state’s largest utility turning off power to 172,000...

Insurers, Covid-Hit Businesses May Be at Odds Over Interruption Claims for Disasters

Sep 4 2020 // As insurers brace for an expensive natural-disaster season because of storms and wildfires ravaging parts of the United States, the novel coronavirus is giving them an odd financial break.Many companies that were damaged...

California Wants Insurers to Reimburse Costs for Those Displaced by Wildfires

Sep 3 2020 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a notice to all California property/casualty insurance companies urging them to cover additional living expenses for policyholders who remain under mandatory evacuation...

California Wildfire Bills Expire as Legislature Recesses, But One Bill Expected to Return

Sep 2 2020 // Several major wildfire bills were left on the table when the California Legislature ended its session earlier this week, but one bill is expected to make a comeback in some form.Assembly Bill 2167, authored by Assemblyman...

Colorado Forest Service Launches County-by-County Wildfire Risk Index

Sep 1 2020 // The Colorado State Forest Service has launched a wildland-urban interface risk index.The county-by-county index uses housing density combined with modeled fire behavior to determine where the greatest potential impact to...

Firefighter Killed at Scene of California Wildfire

Sep 1 2020 // A firefighter was killed and another injured Monday battling a wildfire in the Northern California forest, authorities said.The firefighter was killed in Mendocino National Forest north of San Francisco, where a wildfire...

California Commissioner Issues Emergency Notice to Expedite Wildfire Claims

Aug 26 2020 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday issued an emergency notice to all property/casualty insurance companies doing business in California, requesting they expedite claims handling for California...

Hedge Fund Collects $3 Billion in Bet on Wildfire Insurance Claims

Aug 24 2020 // Baupost Group, the hedge fund run by Seth Klarman, received more than $3 billion in July from its bet on insurance claims against PG&E Corp. connected to a series of deadly California wildfires, according to people...

California Says Fire Evacuees May Be Eligible for Reimbursement from Insurer

Aug 20 2020 // California residents who have been ordered to evacuate due to the hundreds of wildfires burning across the state my be able to recoup their evacuation costs from their insurance company, the California Department of...