Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Southern California Wildfire Losses Could Top $2 Billion
Jan 27 2008 // The California Department of Insurance announced that 37,117 claims have been filed since the wildfires broke out in Southern California in October 2007, and 1,531 of those claims are known to be total losses. Insurers...
U.S. Releases New Disaster Response and Recovery Plan
Jan 23 2008 // The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a comprehensive plan for what the country must do to have a more effective and unified response and recovery in disaster situations. DHS said that the new plan, called...
Southern California Wildfire Losses Could Reach More than $2 Billion
Jan 11 2008 // The California Department of Insurance announced that since the wildfires broke out in Southern California in October 2007, 37,117 claims have been filed, and 1,531 of those claims are known to be total losses, with an...
Top Insurance Stories in 2007 in Southeast
Dec 31 2007 // High heat, changing winds put reputations on the line. 1. Florida’s gamble “It’s all about rates,” maintained Sam Miller, of the industry’s Florida Insurance Council. Florida lawmakers in...
Top Insurance Stories in 2007 in the West
Dec 31 2007 // While 2007 was a surprisingly calm year for hurricanes, that doesn’t mean Mother Nature didn’t have a tantrum or two. In 2007, the West faced its share of disasters, with freezes, floods and fires making news...
Winds Prompt Renewed Southern California Fire Watch
Dec 31 2007 // Dry, gusty winds expected to blow through Southern California prompted weather officials to warn that parts of the region would be under increased risk of fire starting New Year’s Eve. The “fire weather...
Natural Disasters, Fires, Floods, Fair Conduct Fueled Insurance Industry Discussions in 2007
Dec 23 2007 // While 2007 was surprisingly calm year for hurricanes, that doesn’t mean Mother Nature didn’t have a tantrum or two. In the past year, the West faced its share of disasters, with freezes, floods and fires making...
Despite Firefighting Prowess, the Russians Aren’t Coming
Dec 23 2007 // Global firefighter claims U.S. Forest Service stonewalls on Russian aid while U.S. wildfires burn While the Southeast’s largest wildfire in over a century was still smoldering in Georgia after burning 903 square...
Drought Conditions
Dec 23 2007 // Throughout the year, states from North Carolina to Florida faced drought conditions that mostly affected farmers and firefighters, not insurers. But the insurance industry watched closely as the fire danger was raised in...
Allstate’s 4th Quarter Catastrophe Losses of $100 Million Higher than ’06
Dec 20 2007 // Allstate Corp. said Tuesday October’s California wildfires plus other disasters have hiked the insurance company’s fourth-quarter catastrophe losses by about $100 million. Allstate said it received more than...
California Hosts Industry Summit Addressing Wildfire Survivor Needs
Dec 19 2007 // California Insurance Poizner hosted a roundtable meeting Tuesday with CEOs and executives of leading insurance companies to improve the recovery process for wildfire victims and announce minimum standards to reform the...
National Weather Service says Alabama at High Risk for Wildfires
Dec 19 2007 // National Weather Service forecasters and officials with the Alabama Forestry Commission say Alabama is at an unusually high risk for wildfires, despite a cold snap. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag...
Allstate Incurs More than $300 Million in Southern California Wildfire Losses
Dec 19 2007 // The Allstate Corp. reported that the company has received more than 7,000 claims from the Southern California wildfires in October of this year, resulting in approximately $315 million to $335 million in wildfire-related...
USGS Finds Southern California Ash May Pose Health Problems
Dec 6 2007 // Ash from October and November’s southern California wildfires may pose problems to health and the environment, according to preliminary results from a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study released to the Multi-Agency...
RiskMeter Adds Florida Wildfire Report to Natural Hazard Report Service
Dec 5 2007 // Online hazard mapping firm, CDS Business Mapping LLC., added a Florida Wildfire report to its RiskMeter Online natural hazard risk report service. By typing in an address, RiskMeter’s wildfire report will return a...
Intense Fire Season Expected in S.C., Burned Acreage Doubles
Dec 5 2007 // A red flag alert was issued for all of South Carolina during a wildfire season that started earlier compared with previous years and promises to be more intense, forestry officials said Tuesday. “We have fires all...
Storms Threaten Southern California Wildfire Areas with Mudslides
Dec 3 2007 // Southern California’s weather turned from dangerously dry to extremely wet Friday as storms brought the threat of mudslides and flash floods to areas burned by recent wildfires, causing evacuation orders. Residents...
Catastrophic Events Raise Business Interruption Coverage Questions
Dec 2 2007 // Considering the number of people who lived and worked in the area, the destruction of the World Trade Center complex was the functional equivalent of obliterating a small- to medium-sized city. Several recent and...
Malibu, Calif., Faces Wildfires, Again
Dec 2 2007 // For the second time in a little more than a month, residents in Malibu, Calif., faced destruction caused by wildfires. The coastal community had been recovering from October’s 4,565-acre Canyon Fire that destroyed...
Safeco Estimates Calif. Wildfire Losses at $35 Million
Dec 2 2007 // Frank Santoya, a member of the California Fire Office of the State Fire Marshall, walks through the rubble as he surveys the fire damage in the Rancho Barnardo neighborhood of San Diego on Oct. 30, 2007 (AP Photo/Rick...
