Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Wildfire Bill Again Delayed In Colorado Legislature
Mar 24 2014 // The Colorado Legislature has once again delayed a vote on a bill aimed at preventing agricultural fires from starting wildfires. The move on Friday came after its sponsor said he wanted to kill the proposal because farmers...
Ten Things to Know about High Risk Property
Mar 24 2014 // Winter storms caused $2 billion in insured losses in 2013, up dramatically from $38 million in 2012, according to reports from Munich Re. From 1993 to 2012, winter storms resulted in about $28 billion in insured...
Report on Colorado’s Waldo Canyon Fire Lays Out Roadmap
Feb 26 2014 // A report detailing vulnerabilities leading to the destruction of nearly 350 homes in Colorado Springs from the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire provides communities located in wildfire-prone areas guidance on how to reduce risk of...
Early California Wildfires Risk To Homes And Vineyards
Feb 11 2014 // California’s worst drought in decades is feeding what may become a devastating wildfire season, one that is starting about five months early. Extremely dry conditions have sparked 487 wildfires so far in 2014,...
Worries Mount Over Winter Wildfire Season Not Soon to End
Jan 23 2014 // A winter wildfire season offers some unique challenges for firefighters like Mike Lopez. Lopez is president of CDF Firefighters, which represents the employees of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or...
Southern California Wildfire Prompts Evacuations
Jan 16 2014 // A wildfire burned out of control near homes in the dry foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains early Thursday, fanned by gusty Santa Ana winds that spit embers into neighborhoods in the city below. Evacuations were ordered...
Southern California Fire Danger Driven By High Winds
Jan 15 2014 // Red flag warnings remain posted as dry and gusty Santa Ana winds continue to buffet much of Southern California. The National Weather Service says a high-wind warning is in effect until noon Wednesday. In San Bernardino...
Wildfire in California’s Big Sur 79% Contained
Dec 20 2013 // Rain and higher humidity on Thursday helped firefighters battling a wildfire in California’s Big Sur region that has destroyed an estimated 22 homes. The fire in the Los Padres National Forest was 79 percent...
Local Leaders Planning for Climate Effects
Dec 12 2013 // When it comes to climate change, local officials have a message for Washington: Lead or get out of the way. Local governments have long acted as first responders in emergencies and now are working to plan for sea level...
Insurance Lab in South Carolina Aims to Alter ‘Cycle of Destruction’
Dec 2 2013 // The insurance industry hopes a 21,000-square-foot lab in rural South Carolina can help revolutionize the way homes are built and stem the cost of Mother Nature’s disasters. Officials at the Insurance Institute for...
Report Shows Nearly 5 Million Homes Endangered by Wildfires
Dec 2 2013 // More than 4.5 million U.S. households are at high or extreme risk from wildfire, according to new analysis by Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting, a unit of Verisk Analytics. The analysis identified the number...
Scientists Develop Breakthrough Computer Forecasting Models for Wildfires
Nov 18 2013 // Scientists have developed a new computer modeling technique that offers the promise, for the first time, of producing continually updated daylong predictions of wildfire growth throughout the lifetime of long-lived...
Wildfire Emergency Declared in Australia State as Homes Lost
Oct 21 2013 // Australia’s most populous state declared an emergency as wildfires tore through bush land west of Sydney, destroying hundreds of homes and threatening mountain townships. New South Wales State Premier Barry...
Tech Risks Threaten Supply Chain More Than Weather: Guy Carpenter
Oct 21 2013 // Technology failure and cyber attacks represent a greater threat to most organizations than adverse weather, fire and social unrest combined, according to a new report by Guy Carpenter. The report, “Tomorrow Never...
Number of Homes at Risk of Wildfire in Western States Jumps 62%: CoreLogic
Oct 11 2013 // The number of homes at risk from wildfires in western U.S. states jumped 62 percent in the past year as more properties were developed in fire-prone areas, according to a report released on Thursday. About 1.2 million...
Report: $189B in Western U.S. Properties High Wildfire Potential
Oct 10 2013 // Despite a little touch of some wetter and cooler weather, the 2013 wildfire season isn’t over, and the Western states in particular should be prepared for a few more potentially active months. That’s according...
Weather to Raise California Fire Danger
Oct 4 2013 // Forecasters are warning of an onset of gusty, dry conditions that will dramatically raise fire danger in large swaths of California as surface high pressure builds into the Pacific Northwest. In Southern California, the...
Homeowner Fees Recommended To Address Colorado Fires
Oct 2 2013 // Colorado homeowners living in high-risk wildfire areas should be charged fees, and officials need to adopt statewide building requirements to address destructive fires, according to recommendations Monday from a group...
Insurers’ Private Firefighters Give Wealthy Homeowners Extra Protection
Sep 30 2013 // Bill Potter wasn’t eager to abandon his high-end house last month during evacuations forced by a massive Idaho wildfire, but he felt reassured when his insurance company sent a team to protect his home near the...
Damage From Large Wisconsin Wildfire Estimated At $1M
Sep 13 2013 // A fire that damaged a 10-mile swath of forest land in northwestern Wisconsin this spring caused at least $1 million in damage, according to the timber company that owns most of the affected land. The massive blaze in...
