Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
AM Best Says Demand Surge and Inflation to Amplify Colorado Wildfire Losses
Jan 12 2022 // AM Best expects demand surge and rising inflationary pressures on building costs to add to overall loss estimates in the recent wildfires in Colorado. In a commentary AM Best notes that early industry estimates place...
Pandemic Adding Cost to Rebuild After Colorado Wildfire
Jan 11 2022 // Rex and Barba Hickman’s home of 23 years near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains has been reduced to a blackened heap by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. Before the Dec. 30 blaze, which ripped...
Colorado Wildfire Caused $513M in Damage, Officials Say
Jan 10 2022 // Last week’s Colorado wildfire caused at least $513 million in damage and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and structures, officials as they updated the toll of property lost in the most destructive wildfire in state...
Modeler Estimates Insured Losses From Colorado Wildfire at $1B
Jan 6 2022 // The Colorado wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in late December will result in roughly $1 billion in losses, according to a report from catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co. On Dec. 30, a devastating...
Investigators Narrow Search for Origin of Massive Colorado Wildfire
Jan 4 2022 // Investigators looking for the cause of the Colorado wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes have narrowed their search to a sparsely populated neighborhood near Boulder where a passer-by captured video of a burning shed...
2 Still Missing in Colorado Wildfire; Cause Under Investigation
Jan 4 2022 // Search teams looked for two missing people in the smoldering debris from a massive Colorado wildfire while people who escaped the flames sorted through the charred remnants of their homes to find what was...
Climate Change, New Construction Mean More Destructive Wildfires in West
Jan 3 2022 // The winter grassland fire that blew up along Colorado’s Front Range was rare, experts say, but similar events will be more common in the coming years as climate change warms the planet – sucking the moisture out of...
Machine Learning Improves Lightning Prediction, Leading to Insight on a Key Wildfire Spark
Dec 29 2021 // Lightning’s destructive potential was showcased in 2020 when it sparked the massive California Lightning Complex fires, but it remains hard to predict. According to a new study led by the University of Washington,...
Western Kansas Ranches Face Long Recovery after Wildfires
Dec 28 2021 // Ranchers in western Kansas have begun to recover from the deadly wildfires that torched their land earlier this month, but they acknowledge it will be a long process. Two men died and the Kansas Forest Service estimates...
Southern California Edison Faces $550M in Penalties for 5 Wildfires
Dec 20 2021 // California regulators approved a settlement placing more than half a billion dollars in fines and penalties on the utility Southern California Edison for its role in five wildfires in 2017 and 2018. The penalties relate to...
Kansas Wildfires Kill Two
Dec 20 2021 // Two men have died from injuries suffered in wildfires that have burned hundreds of thousands of acres across Kansas last week, authorities said Friday, Dec. 17. Richard Shimanek, 84, a farmer and rancher who lived near...
Oklahoma Wildfire Destroys 5 Homes, 14 Barns
Dec 15 2021 // A wildfire that forced evacuations in rural southwestern Oklahoma last week destroyed five homes, 14 barns and nine vehicles, officials said Monday. Three of the burned homes were unoccupied, said Comanche County Emergency...
Father, Son Charged With Starting Massive California Wildfire Plead Not Guilty
Dec 14 2021 // A father and son charged with starting a massive California wildfire that destroyed many homes and forced tens of thousands of people to flee Lake Tahoe communities earlier this year pleaded not guilty in court. The El...
From Wildfires to Floods, Climate Change Worsens Extreme Weather Across Globe
Dec 13 2021 // Extreme weather events in 2021 shattered records around the globe. Hundreds died in storms and heatwaves. Farmers struggled with drought, and in some cases with locust plagues. Wildfires set new records for carbon...
Evacuation Orders Lifted for Central Colorado Wildfire
Dec 7 2021 // Firefighters made progress containing a 15-acre wildfire in a central Colorado mountain community as authorities lifted evacuation orders Monday for residents who were forced to leave their homes a day earlier. Clear Creek...
14 Insurers Pressing Lawsuit vs. Park Service After Gatlinburg Wildfires
Dec 2 2021 // Fourteen insurance companies are pressing ahead with a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that the National Park Service did little to stop 2016 wildfires that destroyed dozens of homes and businesses in and...
Some Lessons Learned from Wildfire That Nearly Destroyed Tahoe
Nov 30 2021 // The devastation starts on the western slope. Many of the cabins that once lined the highway between here and Sacramento are now gone. Instead, brick and stone chimneys stand sentinel, visible through blackened toothpick...
Insurtech Startup Kettle Raises $25M to Expand Wildfire Reinsurance Protection
Nov 24 2021 // Kettle, the San Francisco-based reinsurance startup that uses artificial intelligence to better protect people from the growing wildfire risks of climate change, announced it has been reinsuring homes during the 2021...
Former Governor Focuses on Saving California Forests from Wildfires
Nov 15 2021 // As smoke lingered in the air amid another destructive California wildfire season, former Gov. Jerry Brown invited a group to his ranch for an urgent conversation: What more could be done to save California’s forests...
Report: Wildfires Have California in ‘Heightened State of Alert’
Nov 10 2021 // California, which has seen its eight largest recorded wildfires since 2017, is in a “heightened state of alert,” according to a new report that calls for urgent policy actions. The report was released on...
