Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Tahoe Fire Commission Wants Federal Aid
Mar 24 2008 // A commission created after a Lake Tahoe blaze destroyed more than 250 California homes voted unanimously to seek state and federal emergency declarations to combat what it says is an imminent threat of catastrophic...
Study Reports on Costly 2007 Wildfire Season
Mar 10 2008 // With a potential $2.5 billion in insured losses in California alone, last year ranks as one of the costliest wildfire seasons in recent history, according to Risk Management Solutions’ (RMS) and ImageCat Inc.’s...
Update: Residents of West Texas Town Moving on after Fire Scare
Feb 28 2008 // Spared the wrath of a fast-moving wildfire that shifting winds turned elsewhere, thankful residents of this small West Texas town worked Tuesday to get back in their routine. Schools were closed for the day but expected to...
Hundreds Evacuated as Thousands of Acres Burn across Texas
Feb 27 2008 // Firefighters across West and Central Texas continued to battle wildfires Tuesday that burned at least 200,000 acres, injured several people and forced the temporary evacuation of the 1,500 residents of Robert Lee, Texas,...
Virginia Wildfires Drained State Funds
Feb 26 2008 // Two weeks into spring fire season, the Virginia Department of Forestry already has spent its entire 2008 funds for firefighting. Spokesman John Campbell tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch that early estimates suggest the...
RMS and ImageCat Report on Costly 2007 Wildfire Season
Feb 21 2008 // Risk Management Solutions (RMS) and ImageCat, Inc., issued a joint research report Wednesday on the 2007 U.S. wildfire season. With a potential $2.5 billion in insured losses in California alone, last year ranks as one of...
Conditions Create Wildfire Threat in N.C., 14,000 Acres already Burned
Feb 20 2008 // High winds and low humidity will create critical fire conditions across parts of central and western North Carolina. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday across areas in the...
People Flee as Fires in Rain-Starved Carolinas, Va. Burn Homes
Feb 12 2008 // Wind-whipped wildfires chased churchgoers from worship, forced hundreds of residents to flee homes and closed highways across the rain-starved Carolinas and Virginia on Sunday. Twelve small structures, including at least...
U.S. Disaster Plan Takes Lessons From Katrina, Calif.’s Wildfires
Feb 10 2008 // The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a new comprehensive disaster plan for the country that officials say promises a response more like what occurred after California’s recent wildfires and...
Fires Flare in Texas While Cleanup Starts on Burned Homes, Businesses
Feb 1 2008 // A day after wildfires burned almost 30 square miles across Texas, a few more blazes sprang up Jan. 30 while victims sifted through the charred remnants of their homes. Gary Karr spent the day moving debris from his...
Allstate 4Q Profit Falls 37% as Calif. Wildfire Losses Top $300M
Jan 31 2008 // Hit by an increase in catastrophe losses, Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer Allstate Corp. saw its profit drop by more than 37 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. The fourth quarter net...
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 // While the Southeast’s largest wildfire in over a century was still smoldering in Georgia after burning 903 square miles, a fresh conflagration reared its ugly head in California, and an American pilot from Virginia...
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...
