Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Passes Handful Bills Aimed at Protecting Wildfire Survivors
Sep 21 2018 // Five bills that their proponents say will protect wildfire survivors were signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday. The bills are aimed at addressing critical issues facing wildfire survivors including...
California Governor Signs Bill Giving Wildfire Victims Options for Rebuilding
Sep 21 2018 // Homeowners who lose their houses to wildfire will be able to use their insurance to rebuild somewhere else under an urgency bill signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday. Assembly Bill 1800, authored by by...
Home Price Appreciation in Highest-Risk Areas Outpaces Overall Rate
Sep 20 2018 // Natural hazards are good at grabbing headlines, but they aren’t as good as dissuading people from buying homes in high-risk areas, a new report shows. Median home prices in areas that are in the top 80 percentile for...
Largest Wildfire in California History Officially 100% Contained
Sep 19 2018 // Officials announced on Wednesday that the Mendocino Complex Fire, the largest wildfire in California’s history, is now 100 percent contained. The blaze burned a combined 459,123 acres, destroyed 280 structures...
California’s Governor: Insurance Fared Better in Wildfires Bill
Sep 17 2018 // California lawmakers didn’t go as far as Governor Jerry Brown wanted to address potential liabilities for utilities from wildfires, and the governor said that “it’s hard to say” if they ever...
Northern California Wildfire Rages, Abandoned Trucks Litter Highway
Sep 7 2018 // An explosive wildfire closed down dozens of miles of a major California freeway only weeks after a nearby blaze that left neighborhoods in ruins and killed eight people. The Delta Fire erupted Wednesday afternoon and...
Claims from California Summer Fires Top $845M, Commissioner Blames Climate Change
Sep 6 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday announced that insured residential and commercial losses from the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires topped $845 million and are now counted among the most destructive...
U.S. Report Says Lack of Staff, Resources, Planning Hurt FEMA’s 2017 Disaster Response
Sep 6 2018 // The federal government’s chief watchdog slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the hurricane that killed thousands of people in Puerto Rico last year, saying it was unprepared and failed...
California Lawmakers OK Bill to Help PG&E Pay for Wildfire Costs
Sep 4 2018 // California lawmakers passed legislation to help utility giant PG&E Corp. pay for billions of dollars in potential liabilities from wildfires that ravaged Northern California wine country last year. The state Assembly...
California Legislature Passes Bill Aimed Collecting Data and Helping Wildfire Victims
Aug 29 2018 // The California Legislature has passed Senate Bill 824, a bill aimed at provided information to the California Department of Insurance related to fire risk information on the residential property policies issued by...
Last Year’s Wine Country Fires in California Leave Homeowners Struggling
Aug 29 2018 // Construction crews have already put up the frame on Cheri Sharp’s new house, but she still questions whether rebuilding was the right choice after California’s most destructive wildfire took her old home in...
Wildfire Insurance Bill Signed by California Governor
Aug 28 2018 // California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed into law a bill that is intended to combat what are believed underinsurance issues revealed by 2017 wildfires. AB 1797 by Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-Marin County, is expected to...
Report Shows California Wildfires, Climate Change Altering Insurance Landscape
Aug 27 2018 // Insurers may be non-renewing more in wildfire-prone areas of California, sending an increasing number of people to the residual market or to surplus lines insurers. A report released on Monday shows that market shares of...
California’s Plan to Help Utilities Deal With Fire Costs
Aug 27 2018 // California lawmakers outlined a proposal to help PG&E Corp. and other utilities cope with billions of dollars of potential damages from deadly wildfires that ravaged the state last year. The plan, part of a broad...
Germany Wildfire Southwest of Berlin Detonates Buried WWII Ammunition
Aug 27 2018 // Firefighters struggled Friday to tame a wildfire southwest of Berlin but had to maneuver carefully as the blaze set off old World War II ammunition that is still buried in the forests around the German capital. Flames...
Extreme Weather Risk Grows as Warming Earth Disrupts High-Altitude Winds: Study
Aug 21 2018 // Scorching summer heatwaves and downpours are set to become more extreme in the northern hemisphere as global warming makes weather patterns linger longer in the same place, scientists said on Monday. They said there was a...
California’s Plan for PG&E Bonds to Cover Fire Damages in Final Stages
Aug 20 2018 // California is finalizing the details of a plan that could let PG&E Corp. issue bonds to cover potential damages from wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes last year. The details are still being worked out, and a...
Jury Rules Nevada Liable for 2017 Wildfire That Burned 23 Homes
Aug 20 2018 // A jury has found the Nevada Division of Forestry liable for the loss of 23 homes and 17 other buildings in a 2016 wildfire after strong winds re-ignited a prescribed burn. The verdict set the stage for future court...
Dry Fall And Worsening Drought in Oregon Portends Wildfires
Aug 20 2018 // A climate prediction report issued by the National Weather Service says Oregon will remain hot, dry and smoky well into autumn this year. The Statesman Journal reported that forecast in the report released last week means...
Changes in California Fire-Liability Law Looking Less Likely
Aug 20 2018 // California utilities won’t get a break from lawmakers who were weighing changes to state liability laws that expose the companies to billions in potential damages from last year’s wildfires. Lawmakers...
