Latest Wildfire Headlines

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

Largest Wildfire in California History Officially 100% Contained

Sep 19 2018 // Officials announced on Wednesday that the Mendocino Complex Fire, the largest wildfire in California’s history, is now 100 percent contained.The blaze burned a combined 459,123 acres, destroyed 280 structures...

California’s Governor: Insurance Fared Better in Wildfires Bill

Sep 17 2018 // California lawmakers didn’t go as far as Governor Jerry Brown wanted to address potential liabilities for utilities from wildfires, and the governor said that “it’s hard to say” if they ever...

Northern California Wildfire Rages, Abandoned Trucks Litter Highway

Sep 7 2018 // An explosive wildfire closed down dozens of miles of a major California freeway only weeks after a nearby blaze that left neighborhoods in ruins and killed eight people.The Delta Fire erupted Wednesday afternoon and within...

Claims from California Summer Fires Top $845M, Commissioner Blames Climate Change

Sep 6 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday announced that insured residential and commercial losses from the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires topped $845 million and are now counted among the most destructive...

U.S. Report Says Lack of Staff, Resources, Planning Hurt FEMA’s 2017 Disaster Response

Sep 6 2018 // The federal government’s chief watchdog slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the hurricane that killed thousands of people in Puerto Rico last year, saying it was unprepared and failed...

California Lawmakers OK Bill to Help PG&E Pay for Wildfire Costs

Sep 4 2018 // California lawmakers passed legislation to help utility giant PG&E Corp. pay for billions of dollars in potential liabilities from wildfires that ravaged Northern California wine country last year.The state Assembly...

California Legislature Passes Bill Aimed Collecting Data and Helping Wildfire Victims

Aug 29 2018 // The California Legislature has passed Senate Bill 824, a bill aimed at provided information to the California Department of Insurance related to fire risk information on the residential property policies issued by...

Last Year’s Wine Country Fires in California Leave Homeowners Struggling

Aug 29 2018 // Construction crews have already put up the frame on Cheri Sharp’s new house, but she still questions whether rebuilding was the right choice after California’s most destructive wildfire took her old home in...

Wildfire Insurance Bill Signed by California Governor

Aug 28 2018 // California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed into law a bill that is intended to combat what are believed underinsurance issues revealed by 2017 wildfires.AB 1797 by Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-Marin County, is expected to...

Report Shows California Wildfires, Climate Change Altering Insurance Landscape

Aug 27 2018 // Insurers may be non-renewing more in wildfire-prone areas of California, sending an increasing number of people to the residual market or to surplus lines insurers.A report released on Monday shows that market shares of...

California’s Plan to Help Utilities Deal With Fire Costs

Aug 27 2018 // California lawmakers outlined a proposal to help PG&E Corp. and other utilities cope with billions of dollars of potential damages from deadly wildfires that ravaged the state last year.The plan, part of a broad...

Germany Wildfire Southwest of Berlin Detonates Buried WWII Ammunition

Aug 27 2018 // Firefighters struggled Friday to tame a wildfire southwest of Berlin but had to maneuver carefully as the blaze set off old World War II ammunition that is still buried in the forests around the German capital.Flames...

Extreme Weather Risk Grows as Warming Earth Disrupts High-Altitude Winds: Study

Aug 21 2018 // Scorching summer heatwaves and downpours are set to become more extreme in the northern hemisphere as global warming makes weather patterns linger longer in the same place, scientists said on Monday.They said there was a...

California’s Plan for PG&E Bonds to Cover Fire Damages in Final Stages

Aug 20 2018 // California is finalizing the details of a plan that could let PG&E Corp. issue bonds to cover potential damages from wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes last year.The details are still being worked out, and a...

Jury Rules Nevada Liable for 2017 Wildfire That Burned 23 Homes

Aug 20 2018 // A jury has found the Nevada Division of Forestry liable for the loss of 23 homes and 17 other buildings in a 2016 wildfire after strong winds re-ignited a prescribed burn.The verdict set the stage for future court...

Dry Fall And Worsening Drought in Oregon Portends Wildfires

Aug 20 2018 // A climate prediction report issued by the National Weather Service says Oregon will remain hot, dry and smoky well into autumn this year.The Statesman Journal reported that forecast in the report released last week means...

Changes in California Fire-Liability Law Looking Less Likely

Aug 20 2018 // California utilities won’t get a break from lawmakers who were weighing changes to state liability laws that expose the companies to billions in potential damages from last year’s wildfires.Lawmakers...

AIR Worldwide Updates Wildfire Model with Event-Based Risk Management Approach

Aug 17 2018 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) has released an updated Wildfire Model for the United States designed to provide a comprehensive view of the risk of wildfire to property within the 13 westernmost...

Global Insured Catastrophe Losses Decline to $20 Billion in H1: Swiss Re

Aug 16 2018 // Global insured losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters during the first half of 2018 were US$20 billion, down from US$30 billion in H1 2017, according to Swiss Re Institute’s latest sigma study.On the...

2018 Wildfire Season Outpacing 2017

Aug 15 2018 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic.Less than a year ago, California was ablaze with some of the most catastrophic fires the United States has seen. Over 10 million acres burned, and many homes and lives...