Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Report on Colorado’s Fourmile Fire: Insurance Losses Exceed $200 Million
Oct 14 2011 // A preliminary report on the 2010 Fourmile Canyon wildfire in Boulder County shows insured losses exceeded $200 million, fire management costs will have exceeded $14 million following rehabilitation efforts, and that while...
Power Line Sparks Likely Caused Bastrop, Texas, Blaze
Oct 3 2011 // Sparks from electric power lines likely started the blaze that became the most destructive wildfire in Texas history, fire officials said. The Sept. 4 blaze began near Bastrop about 25 miles east of Austin, destroying more...
Safe as Houses?
Oct 3 2011 // Safe as houses. That’s an expression I’ve never quite understood. In light of the catastrophic events of 2011, the phrase is especially confusing. How safe are houses – from wildfires, hurricanes,...
Agriculture Losses from Texas Wildfires Adding Up
Sep 30 2011 // In addition to the $5.2 billion in agricultural losses as a result of the drought in Texas this year, an additional $150 million in losses can be attributed to wildfires, according to state agriculture experts. Dr. Andy...
Power Utility Sued After Massive Texas Wildfire
Sep 29 2011 // A utility knew about wildfire dangers amid Texas’ severe drought but failed to remove dead trees and branches near power lines that sparked the most destructive wildfire in state history, an attorney said after...
Insured Losses in Bastrop County Fire to Reach $250M
Sep 27 2011 // Insured damages from what has become the costliest wildfire in Texas history will climb to $250 million, an insurer trade group says. The Bastrop County Complex fire is now 98 percent contained, according to the Texas Fire...
$97M Worth of Timber Destroyed in Texas Wildfires
Sep 23 2011 // East Texas is deeply rooted in the timber industry — and during the last 10 months, wildfires have wiped out more than $97 million worth of the region’s trees, the Texas Forest Service reports. Since wildfire...
Fire-Ravaged Texas Land May Lose Half Its Value
Sep 21 2011 // Texas property blackened by wildfires may suffer reductions in value by as much as 50 to 60 percent and a full recovery could take years, according to Lewis Realty Advisors, a Texas-based real estate appraisal and...
Texas Forest Service: Residents Should Clear Debris Around Homes
Sep 21 2011 // With the wildfire in Texas’ Bastrop County mostly contained, the Texas Forest Service is urging residents who live in the area affected by the 34,000-plus-acre wildfire to clear recently fallen pine needles and other...
Bastrop, Texas, Wildfire Nearly Contained, Thousands Left Homeless
Sep 20 2011 // A wildfire that began more than two weeks ago in Bastrop County is 95 percent contained, according to the Texas Forest Service. The area is about 25 miles east of Austin. The TFS reports that the cause of the fire was most...
Wildfires in Texas’ Bastrop County Destroy More than 1,500 Homes
Sep 19 2011 // The number of homes destroyed by wildfires in a single Texas county had risen to 1,554 as of Sept. 11, 2011. The massive Bastrop County Complex fire was one of a rash of wildfires that broke out across drought-stricken...
Calmer Winds to Slow Growth of Minnesota Wildfire
Sep 15 2011 // Calmer winds were expected to slow the growth of a huge wildfire that has engulfed woodland in northeastern Minnesota and blanketed cities hundreds of miles away with a smoky haze, the U.S. Forest Service said. The blaze...
Fire-weary Texas Residents Looking to Insurance
Sep 15 2011 // Brandon Bunker knew there would be nothing left. He knew from videos he had seen online that the home he and his wife shared with his father was a total loss and that his Jeep Grand Cherokee had been reduced to a...
Insured Losses from Texas Wildfires Could Reach $250 Million
Sep 14 2011 // An industry group says insured losses from a week of Texas wildfires could reach $250 million. The Insurance Council of Texas offered the estimate for the more than 180 wildfires reported statewide since Labor Day...
Nearly 2,000 Homes Destroyed in Texas Since Labor Day Weekend
Sep 13 2011 // The Texas Forest Service reports that an estimated 1,939 homes have been destroyed in the state by wildfires since the Labor Day weekend. The insured losses from the Bastrop County Complex fires alone could reach $150...
Southern California Wildfires Prompt Evacuations
Sep 12 2011 // Several structures are being threatened by one of more than 50 wildfires in the Southern California area of Kern County. The fires, which were sparked by lightning strikes, are segretated in three main areas of Kern,...
President Obama Signs Disaster Aid for Texas Wildfires
Sep 12 2011 // President Barack Obama has signed a federal disaster declaration for Texas in the wake of wildfires in the state. The move allows federal funding to be made available to individuals in Bastrop County in the central part of...
String of Wildfires Takes Toll on Texas Firefighters
Sep 12 2011 // The flames of the massive wildfire that had swallowed nearly 1,400 homes in Central Texas had been tamed, but Webster Fire Chief Patrick Shipp and his crew — veterans of a fire season pushing his team to the limit —...
Texas Wildfires Evacuees Anxious to Return Home
Sep 11 2011 // After spending nearly a week wondering whether his home had been destroyed in massive wildfires sweeping across Central Texas, George Gaydos got the news Sept. 10: His house had burned down in the blaze. But Gaydos — who...
Texas Fires Kill 4, Destroy More Than 1,600 Homes
Sep 8 2011 // One of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in Texas history has left more than 1,600 homes in ruins and stretched the state’s firefighting ranks to the limit, confronting Gov. Rick Perry with a major disaster at...
