Latest Wildfire Headlines

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

California Worries About Drought and Wildfires Amid Dry Winter

Feb 28 2020 // California officials are bracing for the potential of another drought and an early and more intense wildfire season amid a record-breaking warm and dry February.February is shaping up to be driest on record for much of the...

California Public Utilities Commission Fines PG&E $2.1B over Wildfires

Feb 28 2020 // The California Public Utilities Commission has issued an administrative law judge decision imposing $2.137 billion in penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the utility’s role in the catastrophic 2017...

California Wildfire Victims Fear They’ll Be Last in Payout

Feb 27 2020 // A $13.5 billion settlement between victims of California’s catastrophic wildfires and the utility blamed for causing them was supposed to bring some peace and hope to people still reeling from the...

PG&E Fires Contractor After Probe Involving California Wildfires

Feb 26 2020 // Pacific Gas & Electric has fired a contractor hired to haul debris from the site of a deadly 2018 Northern California wildfire, saying the company was over-billing the utility and paying “large sums of money and...

Berkshire Hathaway P/C Insurance Profit Down in 2019

Feb 24 2020 // Full-year insurance results at Berkshire Hathaway disappointed in 2019, with after-tax earnings from underwriting falling to $325 million in 2019 compared to $1.6 billion in 2018.Earnings from primary insurance operations...

CoreLogic: 2019 Was 7th Year in Last Decade with 10 or More Disasters of $1B-Plus

Feb 24 2020 // Last year was a particularly hazardous one, with natural catastrophes causing excessive damages in what appears to be an ongoing trend of higher losses in the past decade, while also posing a danger in many U.S....

A Tale of Two Californias: Managing Wildfire Risk in the Year 2030

Feb 24 2020 // For most of the 20th century, the insurance industry considered wildfires to be little more than a nuisance. They were frequent but rarely resulted in more than a handful of claims, and underwriters priced for them in the...

California FAIR Plan Can Offer Only Fire Insurance, Judge Says

Feb 21 2020 // A fund that offers only fire insurance to California residents in wildfire-prone areas can’t be required to provide coverage for other hazards such as flooding or theft, a judge ruled this week.Superior Court Judge...

PG&E Banking on Big Profits After Utility Leaves Bankruptcy

Feb 20 2020 // Pacific Gas and Electric says it expects to become more profitable than ever after it emerges from bankruptcy and pays off more than $25 billion in losses sustained in catastrophic wildfires ignited by its outdated...

California Commissioner, Lawmakers Intro ‘Hardened Homes’ Wildfire Bill Requiring Admitted Market to Offer Coverage

Feb 18 2020 // A newly proposed bill would clarify under California law the concept of “hardened homes” that are safer or more resistant to wildfires and then require admitted carriers to cover those homes.California’s...

Report: Death Toll in 2018 California Wildfire Likely Includes 50 More People

Feb 13 2020 // Doctors and other experts say at least 50 more people, many of them elderly or ill, likely died as a result of the 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise, California, but were not counted in the official death...

Report: 2019 Was 7th Year in Last Decade with 10 or More Disasters of $1B-Plus

Feb 12 2020 // Last year was a particularly hazardous one, with natural catastrophes causing excessive damages in what appears to be an ongoing trend of higher losses in the past decade, while also posing a danger in many U.S....

California Utilities’ Wildfire Prevention Plans Call for More Blackouts

Feb 11 2020 // California utilities plan to continue shutting off power to customers during dry and windy conditions to prevent sparking deadly wildfires, but they aim to make outages more targeted to avoid widespread blackouts,...

Why Utilities Are Turning to Bond Market to Pay for Natural Disaster Losses

Feb 11 2020 // Fires and floods are sending some of the nation’s largest utilities to the bond market to cover huge, unexpected bills. California’s PG&E Corp., which was forced into bankruptcy a year ago after its...

Wine ‘Smoke Taint’ Disputes Linger 2 Years After California Wildfires

Feb 7 2020 // Recent wildfires in California Wine Country, particularly those that devastated parts of Napa and Sonoma counties in October 2017, have focused attention on whether insurance covers smoke taint damage to grapes and...

PG&E Clears Another Bankruptcy Hurdle with Debt Refinancing

Feb 6 2020 // A federal judge has approved a settlement that moves Pacific Gas & Electric closer to getting out of bankruptcy, but the troubled utility still must navigate nettlesome obstacles being put up by the state of...

A Tale of Two Californias: Managing Wildfire Risk in the Year 2030

Feb 6 2020 // For most of the 20th century, the insurance industry considered wildfires to be little more than a benign nuisance. They occurred frequently but rarely resulted in more than a handful of claims, and underwriters priced for...

California Leads Nation in Surplus Lines Premiums on 5th Year of Record Growth

Feb 4 2020 // Premium data from all surplus lines stamping offices for 2019 shows that California once again led the nation in total surplus line premiums, possibly boosted by construction spending and wildfires.The Surplus Line...

2019 Natural Hazard Report Highlights Long Tail of Financial Recovery

Feb 4 2020 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic.Preparing for a catastrophe is a science. This science involves models built from data and analytics that can capture the worst-case scenario for businesses and...

California Governor Wants to Block PG&E’s Bankruptcy Plan

Jan 24 2020 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging a federal judge to reject Pacific Gas and Electric’s blueprint for getting out of bankruptcy and renewing his threat to lead a bid to turn the beleaguered utility into a...