Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Southern California Edison to Pay $80M to US Over 2017 Wildfire
Feb 27 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...
Hub Launches High Net Worth Excess Wildfire Program in California
Feb 19 2024 // HUB International launched a new program to address the need for enhanced wildfire coverage of high value homes that will be offered exclusively by HUB Private Client to address the insurance and risk management needs of...
Powerful Winds Cause Destruction, Spark Wildfires in Australia’s State of Victoria
Feb 15 2024 // Powerful winds have killed a man and brought widespread destruction across Australia’s second-most populous state, leaving 530,000 homes and businesses without power and fanning fires that razed homes and injured...
Father in Gender-Reveal That Sparked Fatal 2020 California Wildfire Pleads Guilty
Feb 13 2024 // A man whose family’s gender reveal photo shoot sparked a Southern California wildfire that killed a firefighter in 2020 has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors said. The El Dorado Fire erupted on...
Chile’s Second-Largest Refinery Shuttered Due to Power Outage Following Wildfires
Feb 5 2024 // The Aconcagua refinery, Chile’s second-largest with a capacity to process 102,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, has been shut down since Friday following a power outage caused by forest fires raging in the country,...
Hub Launches High Net Worth Excess Wildfire Program in California
Feb 5 2024 // HUB International launched a new program to address the need for enhanced wildfire coverage of high value homes that will be offered exclusively by HUB Private Client to address the insurance and risk management needs of...
Alaska Charter Company Paying $900K for Wildfire From Campfire
Jan 31 2024 // An Alaska fishing guide company has paid $900,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. government alleging one of its guides started a wildfire in 2019, the U.S. attorney’s office for Alaska said in a...
Hawaii Officials Identify Last of 100 Known Victims of Wildfire That Destroyed Lahaina
Jan 30 2024 // The last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina in August was identified as a 70-year-old woman whose husband, sister and several other relatives also died in the...
Oregon Jury Awards $85 M to 9 Victims of Deadly 2020 Wildfires
Jan 29 2024 // An Oregon jury awarded $85 million to nine victims of wildfires that ravaged the state in 2020, the latest verdict in a series of legal proceedings that are expected to put the utility PacifiCorp on the hook for billions...
Startup AiDash Raises $50M for Tech Using AI, Satellites to Spot Wildfire Risk
Jan 26 2024 // A California startup using artificial intelligence (AI) and satellites to spot fire and weather risks on power lines, AiDash, reported it had raised $50 million in new funding, reflecting Silicon Valley efforts to create...
