Latest Wildfire Headlines

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

Wildfires Likely to Boost California Surplus Lines Homeowners Share; FAIR Plan Expansion Questioned

Nov 22 2019 // Premium volume from homeowners polices written by California’s surplus lines industry, although still small, has doubled over the past four years, seemingly pushed by an increase in wildfires in the state.Some...

Report Urges Insurers to Eye Impact of Climate Change on Underwriting, Investments

Nov 21 2019 // Insurers can no longer put off addressing the impact of climate change on their underwriting, pricing, and investment decisions, as well as their bottom lines, a recent analysis from Deloitte asserts.“The escalating...

PG&E Cuts Power to 50K California Homes And Businesses During Wildfire Risk

Nov 21 2019 // About 50,000 homes and businesses across Northern California were without power on Wednesday during the latest planned outage instituted by utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to guard against risk of wildfire during...

California Commissioner Issues Emergency Notice to Expedite Wildfire Claims

Nov 20 2019 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday issued an emergency notice to all property/casualty insurers doing business in California requesting they expedite claims handling for wildfire survivors to help...

PG&E: Some Fire Victim Claims, Including One for 500-Pound Emerald, Seem ‘Suspicious’

Nov 20 2019 // PG&E Corp. says it has found suspicious monetary claims by victims of California’s wildfires, including one from a man who says a 500-pound (227-kilogram) emerald worth $280 million was destroyed at his home a...

Australia Warned to Expect More Fire Tornadoes

Nov 19 2019 // Fire tornadoes are set to become a more common feature of the Australian landscape as climate change takes hold later this century.That’s according to new research from the University of New South Wales’s...

Boosting Resilience to U.S. Wildfires Should Be Insurance Industry Priority: I.I.I.

Nov 18 2019 // Nearly a year after the deadliest and costliest wildfire in U.S. history, insurers and the customers they cover are revisiting how to reduce their collective exposure to this risk, according to the Insurance Information...

Wall Street Taking Closer Look at Climate Change Risks

Nov 15 2019 // In the wake of two years of devastating wildfires in California, Wall Street is incorporating a new risk metric when evaluating companies: climate resiliency.Investors, analysts, research firms and companies are putting...

Australia Wildfires Continue to Rage, Destroying Homes, Forcing Evacuations

Nov 14 2019 // Scores of wildfires continued to rage across vast tracts of Australia’s drought-stricken east coast on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes, some for the second time in a week.The most...

Venice Floods, Australia Wildfires Blamed on Climate Change

Nov 14 2019 // Extreme floods in Venice, fires in Australia and even an outbreak of plague in China have been attributed to climate change this week, while researchers have warned that global warming could saddle future generations with...

PURE Programs Launches California High Wildfire Risk Homeowners Program

Nov 13 2019 // PURE Programs has launched a new High Wildfire Risk Homeowners Insurance program, with coverages for retail insurance brokers serving clients that own high value homes in California at greater-risk of loss from...

Despite Wildfires, California Wine is Doing Just Fine – For Now

Nov 12 2019 // If you’re worried that wildfires might have created shortages of Northern California’s 2019 cabernet sauvignon, or even just imparted it with an undesirable smoky flavor, you can relax. The wine is just fine....

PG&E California Wildfire Victims Sue to Get Paid Before Fire Insurers

Nov 12 2019 // PG&E Corp. wildfire victims have filed a new lawsuit arguing they must be fully repaid for the losses of their homes and businesses before fire insurers are as part of the utility’s bankruptcy.The case takes aim...

PG&E Expecting over $6B in Costs from California Wildfire

Nov 8 2019 // Pacific Gas & Electric is reporting substantial losses for the third quarter, driven by catastrophic wildfires that have been blamed on the utility’s outdated transmission lines. The company anticipates those...

Typhoon Hagibis to Cost Japan’s Economy $10B, with Insured Losses in Billions: Aon

Nov 8 2019 // Typhoon Hagibis is likely to become one of 2019’s costliest events, with economic costs of more than US$10 billion and insured losses minimally in the billions, according to Aon’s monthly catastrophe report.The...

California Town Devastated by Wildfire Rebuilds, But Is It Any Safer a Year Later

Nov 7 2019 // There was “no way in hell” Victoria Sinclaire was rebuilding in Paradise, Calif.She’d thought she was going to die during the six hours it took her to escape the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in...

PG&E Extending Deadline for California Wildfire Damage Claims

Nov 6 2019 // Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to extend by two months the deadline to file claims against the company for damages suffered from a series of wildfires in California.Lawyers for the victims asked to extend the...

Boosting Resilience to U.S. Wildfires Should Be Insurance Industry Priority: I.I.I.

Nov 6 2019 // Nearly a year after the deadliest and costliest wildfire in U.S. history, insurers and the customers they cover are revisiting how to reduce their collective exposure to this risk, according to the Insurance Information...

Quake Confirmed in Northern California Area Burned by Wildfire

Nov 5 2019 // A small earthquake has rattled a Northern California wine region where a huge wildfire was burning, the United States Geological Survey confirmed.The USGS reported the quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.2 struck at...

Wildfire Season Rages on in Southern California as Thousands Flee

Nov 1 2019 // A wildfire that erupted overnight near Los Angeles has forced 7,500 people to flee as the tail end of a powerful windstorm takes its a final swing at Southern California.The blaze in Ventura County ripped through more than...