Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Wildfire Insured Losses at Billions of Dollars and Climbing
Nov 12 2018 // An analysis by catastrophe modeler RMS shows 15 wildfires are burning more than 280,000 acres in California have collectively destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and businesses and killed 31 people. Roughly 300,000 have been...
Deaths, Damages Continue to Rise in California’s Most Destructive Wildfires
Nov 12 2018 // The most destructive wildfires in California’s history have killed at least 31 people and forced tens of thousands more to evacuate as firefighters struggle to gain control amid swirling winds. The so-called Camp...
California Wildfire Update: Thousands Flee, More Than 50K Without Power
Nov 9 2018 // Fanned by hot, dry winds, wildfires north of San Francisco and near Los Angeles have forced the evacuation of more than 150,000 people in the state, including Malibu, the coastal enclave of the rich and famous. The fires...
California Wildfire Grows to More than 20K Acres, More Blazes Erupt
Nov 9 2018 // A wildfire raging in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada foothills quadrupled in size late Thursday and another day of dry winds threatens to make it spread even farther, faster. The blaze near the community of Chico...
Power Customers in California File Claims in Pre-Emptive Wildfire Outage
Nov 2 2018 // A Northern California utility received 146 demands for reimbursement from customers who say Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s controversial decision to cut power to prevent wildfires hurt them economically. The...
Court Limits Insurer’s Payout in Massive Wisconsin Wildfire
Oct 31 2018 // The state Supreme Court is limiting an insurance company’s payout in a massive northwestern Wisconsin wildfire. Logging equipment owned by Ray Duerr Logging LLC sparked the Germann Road Fire in Douglas County in May...
Weather, Wildfire Claims an Increasing Share of Home Insurance Losses
Oct 31 2018 // U.S homeowners insurers saw an increase in both the number of losses and the percentage of those losses that resulted from an extreme weather event during 2017. According to a LexisNexis Home Trends report, loss costs...
Utah Firefighting Costs This Year a Record $110M
Oct 19 2018 // Utah State Forester Brian Cottam says the state’s wildfire season appears to be over and that it is adding up to be Utah’s most expensive ever. KSL-TV reported that Cottam told the Utah Executive Appropriations...
California Utility Cuts Power to Dampen Wildfire Threat
Oct 15 2018 // California’s largest public utility cut off electric power to about 60,000 customers in an unprecedented move to prevent wildfires such as those that erupted in the state’s wine country last fall, as high winds...
Montana Homes in Fire-Prone Areas Hike Firefighting Costs, Report Shows
Oct 15 2018 // Rapid population growth and the desire to live near forests means new housing in western Montana is being built in wildfire-prone areas, increasing taxpayer-funded fire suppression liabilities and putting lives and...
California Bracing for High Winds, Increased Wildfire Danger
Oct 15 2018 // Potentially powerful winds combined with dry weather are raising the threat of wildfires in California. State firefighters say they are preparing for potential extreme fire weather early in the week. The National Weather...
Nevada Board Says $3.8M More Needed to Fight Wildfires
Oct 12 2018 // The Nevada Board of Examiners has recommended approval of an additional $3.8 million to cover the cost of fighting wildfires this past summer. The Nevada Appeal reports state forester Kacey KC told the board Tuesday more...
Oregon Wildfire Costs This Year Hit Record of $514M
Oct 12 2018 // New data shows the cost of fighting wildfires in Oregon reached an all-time high $514.6 million in 2018. According to data from Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, Oregon’s costs skyrocketed past last...
Washington Lands Commissioner Wants $55M for Wildfires
Oct 12 2018 // Washington’s Public Lands Commissioner wants lawmakers to increase the amount of money that the state spends to fight wildfires and prevent future blazes. Hilary Franz, who oversees the Department of Natural...
Woes of California Wildfire Victims Include Cleanup Crews, Fraud
Oct 11 2018 // One year after a devastating series of wildfires ripped through Northern California wine country, destroying thousands of homes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ first experience cleaning up after a wildfire has...
Northern California’s Cascade Wildfire Tied to PG&E Equipment
Oct 9 2018 // PG&E Corp.-owned equipment caused the Cascade fire in Northern California last year, state investigators have determined. Sagging power lines were the ignition source of the blaze, the California Department of Forestry...
California Heads into its Peak Fire Season with State-Sized Burn Scar
Oct 8 2018 // California is poised to set an annual record it never wanted to break: the amount of earth scorched by wildfires. Blazes have already ripped through enough acres to blacken the entire state of Delaware, and what’s...
California Insurance Commissioner Wants Inventory Requirements Eased for 2018 Wildfire Survivors
Oct 4 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones wants insurers to assist wildfire survivors by voluntarily easing detailed personal property home inventory requirements and to follow the lead of other insurers providing at...
Costs to Fight Wildfires in Utah Double This Year
Oct 1 2018 // Costs to fight wildfires in Utah are increasing by about $1 million a day right now and authorities expect the season to last throughout October. State Forester Brian Cottam says on average, there are roughly 1,100 fire...
Costs to Fight Wildfires in Utah Double This Year
Sep 24 2018 // Costs to fight wildfires in Utah are increasing by about $1 million a day right now and authorities expect the season to last throughout October. State Forester Brian Cottam says on average, there are roughly 1,100 fire...
