Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Bankruptcy Court Approves PG&E’s Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan
Jun 22 2020 // PG&E Corp. said its Chapter 11 reorganization plan has been confirmed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, bringing the power provider one step closer to emerging from...
Backers of Controversial California Homeowners Insurance Bill Like Its Momentum, Timing
Jun 17 2020 // Backers of a controversial bill in California, which they say is designed to increase insurance coverage in high-risk wildfire areas by amending Proposition 103, believe it has the right timing and plenty of momentum to go...
Colorado Wildfire Grows to 4.2 Square Miles
Jun 17 2020 // A lightning-caused wildfire in southwestern Colorado that has led to the evacuation of more than two dozen homes has grown to about 4.2 square miles. The fire started Saturday and was burning on private and U.S. Bureau of...
PG&E Will Plead Guilty to Deaths From California Wildfire
Jun 17 2020 // Pacific Gas & Electric is expected to plead guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter during a court hearing in which the nation’s largest utility will be confronted with its history of neglect and...
California Consumer and Insurer Groups Square Off Over Homeowner Insurance Bill
Jun 9 2020 // A consumer group is warning that homeowners could pay billions more for their home insurance under what it calls an “insurance industry legislative attack on California’s effective rate...
Nevada Readies for High-Risk Fire Season Amid COVID-19
Jun 8 2020 // Fire officials preparing for a hazardous wildfire season in Nevada will be challenged by high temperatures, drought and the coronavirus. “Fire doesn’t really care that there’s a pandemic. We’re...
Homes Burned, Evacuations Ordered in California Wildfire
Jun 5 2020 // A grass fire burning northeast of San Francisco destroyed or damaged about a dozen homes Wednesday and prompted evacuations of several streets, fire officials said. The fire erupted at around 3:30 p.m. near a wildlife...
California Approves PG&E Bankruptcy Plan With Oversight, Safety Conditions
May 29 2020 // California regulators approved PG&E Corp.’s $58 billion reorganization plan, bringing the power giant another step closer to exiting the biggest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history. The state’s Public...
California Lawmakers Move Toward Risk-Based Rates
May 28 2020 // As the Soviet Union ultimately learned the hard way, price controls are a guaranteed way to prolong shortages. It has taken a few years, but there are promising signs California lawmakers may finally be ready to learn the...
Not All Homes in Wildfire Zones Are Uninsurable. Here’s How Insurers Can Tell.
May 22 2020 // Fire-risk scores now used by insurance underwriters can sometimes can make it challenging for homeowners to find coverage. Zesty.ai, a California insurtech start-up, is among a handful of firms working to fine-tune...
PG&E’s Bankruptcy Plan Wins Support from California Wildfire Victims
May 20 2020 // Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan for getting out of bankruptcy has won overwhelming support from the victims of deadly Northern California wildfires ignited by the utility’s fraying electrical grid, despite...
Pandemic Could Complicate Colorado’s Potentially Bad Fire Season
May 19 2020 // As if Southwest Colorado’s extreme drought wasn’t enough to raise concerns about a potentially destructive wildfire season, the added complications of the coronavirus have only fueled that anxiety. The COVID-19...
Florida Man Charged with Starting 343-Acre Wildfire in Panhandle
May 15 2020 // A Florida Panhandle man who set up an illegal burn barrel on his property caused a wildfire that torched approximately 343 acres (139 hectares) of wild lands and damaged or destroyed about 59 homes, state officials...
Firefighters Battle Raging Florida Wildfire as Many Florida Residents Return Home
May 11 2020 // For two sleepless nights, Kelly Kniss had wondered what had become of her home in the Florida Panhandle and the two dozen hens she and her husband Ryan had left behind after authorities ordered them to grab what they could...
New Mexico Forest Official Cites Rising Risk of Human-Caused Wildfires
May 11 2020 // The top administrator of a national forest in northern New Mexico says there’s an elevated risk of human-caused wildfires due to drying conditions and negligence by some forest visitors. Carson National Forest...
Wildfires Rage in Florida Panhandle; More Than 1K People Evacuated
May 8 2020 // Firefighters in the Florida Panhandle have been battling wildfires that forced some 1,600 people to evacuate from their homes, and a stretch of Interstate 10 remained closed in both directions Thursday morning due to...
Wildfire Danger High in Central Wisconsin
May 5 2020 // The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning on May 3 for 12 counties in central Wisconsin as the danger of wildfires remained high. A red flag warning is issued...
PG&E Purging Most of Board in Fallout From Bankruptcy, California Wildfires
May 4 2020 // PG&E Corp. will sweep out three quarters of its board of directors to start with a mostly clean slate when it emerges from a bankruptcy case triggered by deadly wildfires ignited in Northern California by the...
California Earthquake Authority Named Administrator of Wildfire Fund
Apr 29 2020 // The California Catastrophe Response Council, which oversees the Wildfire Fund, has formally named the California Earthquake Authority the fund’s administrator. The Wildfire Fund was established by the California...
Wisconsin Governor Issues Emergency Order Due to Wildfires
Apr 22 2020 // Wisconsin residents grappling with the coronavirus have something else to worry about now: wildfires. Gov. Tony Evers on April 21 declared statewide state of emergency in response to elevated wildfire conditions. The...
