Latest Wildfire Headlines

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

Deadly California ‘Firenado’ Explained in New Study

Dec 7 2018 // A rare fire tornado that raged during this summer’s deadly Carr Fire in Northern California was created by a combination of scorching weather, erratic winds and an ice-topped cloud that towered miles into the...

Aon Cites Need for Mitigation as Insured Wildfire Losses Top $10B for Second Year

Dec 7 2018 // Total aggregated economic losses for the wildfires that have burned across Northern and Southern California throughout the month are expected to minimally exceed $10 billion, while insurance claims payouts for wildfires...

Modeler: Insured Losses from Camp Wildfire in California at $6B to $9B

Dec 6 2018 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that industry insured losses from the Camp Fire in Northern California will be between $6 billion and $9 billion, and taken together with the Woolsey fire in Southern...

California Attorney General Brought into PG&E Wildfire Probe

Dec 6 2018 // California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was asked by a federal judge to weigh in on whether reckless operation of power lines by PG&E Corp. in connection with deadly Northern California wildfires would constitute a...

Farmers Expects $2.1B in Claims from California Wildfires

Dec 5 2018 // Farmers Insurance expects $2.1 billion in claims from the California wildfires in November.The Los Angeles, Calif.-based carrier said it has so far received more than 9,000 claims combined for the Camp Fire in Northern...

Schools Open 3 Weeks After Northern California Wildfire

Dec 4 2018 // Monday marked a return to school and some semblance of routine for thousands of children who lost their homes to a deadly wildfire in Northern California.Schools in Butte County have been closed since Nov. 8, when the Camp...

Will California See More Laws and Regulations in Wake of Wildfires?

Dec 3 2018 // Last year’s California wildfires destroyed thousands of homes and cost billions of dollars, but they also created numerous new laws and regulations in their wake as Legislators and insurance regulators looked for...

Imagery and Artificial Intelligence in Wildfire Risk

Dec 3 2018 // Fires across North America in 2018 have continued the pattern of extreme destruction established by significant insured loss events in both Northern and Southern California last year and the 2016 disasters in Alberta and...

Reducing Fire Risk Doesn’t Cost More

Dec 3 2018 // Properties built in wildfire-prone areas could be built to better withstand fire risk without increasing the cost of construction. That’s according to a new study released last month that found negligible cost...

California Seizes Small Insurer Merced P&C Due to Wildfire Claims

Dec 2 2018 // California regulators moved Friday to take over an insurance company that can’t pay out all claims following a massive wildfire that destroyed more than 13,000 homes.Merced Property & Casualty Company was pushed...

Modeler: Insured Losses from Woolsey Fire in Southern California at Least $2.5B

Nov 30 2018 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide on Friday said it estimates that insured losses from the Woolsey Fire in Southern California will be at least $2.5 billion.Moody’s on Thursday released estimates showing...

2.9M Colorado Residents Now Living in Areas at Risk Of Wildfire

Nov 29 2018 // The number of Coloradans whose homes are at risk from wildfires soared 45 percent in five years, reflecting the state’s booming population and changing uses of agricultural land, state officials said.The Colorado...

Moody’s Says California Wildfire Losses Will Impact P/C Insurer, Reinsurer 4Q Earnings

Nov 29 2018 // Moody’s has released estimates showing property/casualty insurers and reinsurers total insured losses at $10 billion $15 billion from the California wildfires, which destroyed more than 20,000 residential and...

How Insurer Deployed Technology to Expedite Wildfire Claims

Nov 29 2018 // As wildfires raged this month in California, insurance claims experts at Travelers sat in a command center 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) away in Connecticut, monitoring screens showing satellite images, photos from...

Fitch Warns of Negative Credit Effects on Reinsurance from California Wildfires

Nov 28 2018 // The “downside credit risks” from the California wildfires are the most pronounced for investor-owned utilities, which could face large liabilities if IOU equipment is found to have ignited the fires.And...

PG&E Decided Not to Cut Power as Winds Raged Before California Wildfire

Nov 28 2018 // In the days before California’s deadliest wildfire erupted near a PG&E Corp. power line during a windstorm, the company kept a close eye on the weather, warned customers it might shut off electricity in the area,...

Managing Natural Disasters Becomes Priority for Nation’s Governors

Nov 28 2018 // Governors have a wide range of priorities they want to tackle in the coming year, from tax reform to education. Yet it’s a topic that receives less attention on the campaign trail and in their speeches that could...

Report Puts Losses from California Wildfires at $15B to $19B

Nov 27 2018 // Total losses from the wildfires in Northern and Southern California could reach from $15 billion to $19 billion, a report out on Tuesday shows.The report from industry data provider CoreLogic shows total losses from the...

Bill to Give PG&E Relief from California Wildfire Burden Nears, But Long-Term Fix Elusive

Nov 27 2018 // PG&E Corp., suspected of starting California’s deadliest wildfire, may soon get help from state lawmakers – just not the help it most wants.An assemblyman plans to introduce a bill in January that would give...

Research Finds Fire-Resistant Building Codes Do Not Raise Home Prices

Nov 27 2018 // Homes in wildfire-prone areas around the U.S. could be built to better withstand blazes without increasing the cost of construction, according to a new report.The research released Tuesday was sponsored in part by the...