Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Firefighters Completely Contain Panhandle Wildfire
Mar 18 2024 // LUBBOCK — Firefighters have completely contained the Smokehouse Creek fire in Hutchinson County after a nearly three-week battle with what quickly became the largest wildfire in Texas history. That inferno and a series...
Southern California Edison to Pay $80M to US Over 2017 Wildfire
Mar 18 2024 // Southern California Edison agreed to pay the United States $80 million to cover costs and damages incurred by the U.S. Forest Service from the 2017 Thomas wildfire in California’s Los Padres National Forecast, the...
California Insurance Commissioner: Allow Cat Modeling in Rates for Wildfires
Mar 14 2024 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said he will allow catastrophe modeling to be used in rate regulation for wildfires, a move he says will help restore insurance options for Californians. It was the latest...
Texas Committee to Investigate Panhandle Wildfires
Mar 14 2024 // LUBBOCK — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is creating a legislative committee to investigate the Texas Panhandle wildfires to ensure the state is prepared for future disasters. His Tuesday announcement comes more than...
Xcel Texas Wildfire Legal Reckoning to Take Years to Play Out
Mar 12 2024 // (Xcel Energy Inc. will likely be wrangling for years with the legal fallout from the wildfires burning through the Texas Panhandle. The experience of utility companies in California and Oregon sued over massive blazes...
Texas Firefighters Make Progress Containing Panhandle Wildfires
Mar 12 2024 // LUBBOCK — Texas firefighters are gaining more control over the remaining wildfires in the Panhandle, more than two weeks after the infernos first engulfed large swaths of the region and burned more than 1 million...
Texas Utility Rules Didn’t Prevent Panhandle Wildfires
Mar 8 2024 // Before it burned to a pile of ashes, Melanie McQuiddy’s house on the outskirts of Canadian was her family’s home base. Her daughter and grandchildren flocked there for holidays. At Christmastime, she put a tree...
Pacificorp Ordered to Pay Oregon Wildfire Victims Another $42M
Mar 8 2024 // A jury in Oregon has ordered PacifiCorp to pay more than $42 million to 10 victims of devastating wildfires on Labor Day 2020 — the latest verdict in litigation that is expected to see the electric utility on the hook...
Xcel Energy Acknowledges Role in Texas Panhandle Wildfire
Mar 7 2024 // Xcel Energy on Thursday acknowledged its involvement in the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which started last week and quickly became the largest wildfire in state history, burning more than 1 million acres. “Based on...
Texas Fire Chief Dies While Fighting House Fire in City Hit Hard by Wildfires
Mar 7 2024 // A Texas fire chief whose small town was among the hardest hit last week by historic blazes sweeping across the Panhandle died Tuesday while fighting a house fire, authorities said. The house fire that Fritch Fire Chief Zeb...
Washington Commissioner Wants Insurers to Modify Claims Process for Wildfire Victims
Mar 6 2024 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler on Wednesday sent a letter to insurers urging them to consider loosening personal property claim filing requirements for victims of last summer’s Spokane County...
Texas Panhandle Ranchers Look to Rebuild After Wildfires
Mar 6 2024 // CANADIAN — Farmers and ranchers in the Panhandle lost livestock, buildings and infrastructure in the wildfires still raging through the region. Now they’re looking to rebuild. More than 100 people packed a room at...
Many Texas Panhandle Homes Burned in Wildfires Weren’t Insured
Mar 5 2024 // FRITCH — Many Panhandle residents whose dwellings and possessions burned in the region’s ongoing wildfires may never financially recover for one simple reason: Their homes weren’t insured. “A lot of the...
Maui County Officials Select Final Disposal Site For Debris From Lahaina Wildfire
Mar 4 2024 // Hawaii officials plan to send debris and ash from the August wildfire that destroyed Lahaina town to Maui’s central landfill. Maui County officials said Wednesday that they picked the permanent disposal site in...
Infernos Rage From Texas to Australia as Wildfire Season Kicks Off Early
Mar 4 2024 // After a year of deadly wildfires around the globe, the world is burning again from Texas to Australia — and in some regions, the blazes are igniting early. Canada’s Alberta province said last month that wildfire...
Xcel Energy Utility Equipment Started Texas Wildfire, Homeowner Claims in Lawsuit
Mar 4 2024 // March 1 (Reuters) – A Texas homeowner whose house was destroyed by a massive wildfire raging northeast of Amarillo sued electric utility Xcel Energy XEL.O on Friday, alleging that a splintered power pole owned by the...
Firefighters Race to Subdue Texas Wildfire Before Dangerous Weekend Conditions
Mar 1 2024 // FRITCH — A blanket of snow and rain that descended over the Texas Panhandle on Thursday helped firefighters to quell the spread of the largest wildfire in the state’s history, which has engulfed more than 1 million...
Insurers Offer Tips for Residents to Navigate Texas Wildfires
Feb 29 2024 // The Smokehouse Creek Fire has grown to more than 1 million acres in the Texas Panhandle, making it the second-largest wildfire in state history. The fire is 3% contained as of Thursday morning according to officials with...
Texas Wildfire Conditions Seen Worsening After Brief Respite
Feb 29 2024 // Dry, windy weather that’s been fanning the worst Texas wildfire in almost two decades will return later this week after a brief respite of rain and snow. Fires raging across the Texas Panhandle have scorched homes...
Wildfires Forces Texas Panhandle Residents to Shelter in Place
Feb 28 2024 // Officials have ordered nearly 5,000 residents in the Panhandle cities of Canadian, Fritch and Glazier to shelter in place Tuesday as four separate wildfires engulfed the region, burning more than 280,000 acres. Residents...
