Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
From Wildfires to Floods, Climate Change Worsens Extreme Weather Across Globe
Dec 13 2021 // Extreme weather events in 2021 shattered records around the globe. Hundreds died in storms and heatwaves. Farmers struggled with drought, and in some cases with locust plagues. Wildfires set new records for carbon...
Evacuation Orders Lifted for Central Colorado Wildfire
Dec 7 2021 // Firefighters made progress containing a 15-acre wildfire in a central Colorado mountain community as authorities lifted evacuation orders Monday for residents who were forced to leave their homes a day earlier. Clear Creek...
14 Insurers Pressing Lawsuit vs. Park Service After Gatlinburg Wildfires
Dec 2 2021 // Fourteen insurance companies are pressing ahead with a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that the National Park Service did little to stop 2016 wildfires that destroyed dozens of homes and businesses in and...
Some Lessons Learned from Wildfire That Nearly Destroyed Tahoe
Nov 30 2021 // The devastation starts on the western slope. Many of the cabins that once lined the highway between here and Sacramento are now gone. Instead, brick and stone chimneys stand sentinel, visible through blackened toothpick...
Insurtech Startup Kettle Raises $25M to Expand Wildfire Reinsurance Protection
Nov 24 2021 // Kettle, the San Francisco-based reinsurance startup that uses artificial intelligence to better protect people from the growing wildfire risks of climate change, announced it has been reinsuring homes during the 2021...
Former Governor Focuses on Saving California Forests from Wildfires
Nov 15 2021 // As smoke lingered in the air amid another destructive California wildfire season, former Gov. Jerry Brown invited a group to his ranch for an urgent conversation: What more could be done to save California’s forests...
Report: Wildfires Have California in ‘Heightened State of Alert’
Nov 10 2021 // California, which has seen its eight largest recorded wildfires since 2017, is in a “heightened state of alert,” according to a new report that calls for urgent policy actions. The report was released on...
California Remembers 3rd Anniversary of Wildfire That Killed 85, Destroyed Thousands of Homes
Nov 10 2021 // Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday marked the third anniversary of California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire by announcing that nearly 100,000 damaged trees have been removed and debris cleaned up from some...
PG&E Spending $125M for Igniting Massive California Wildfire
Nov 5 2021 // Pacific Gas & Electric has reached a $125 million settlement agreement with California regulators over the destructive Kincade fire, which was ignited in 2019 by the utility’s equipment in a remote area of Sonoma...
How Insurers Can Better Prepare for Wildfire
Oct 28 2021 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Nine of the 20 largest wildfires in California have occurred since 2020, including four so far in 2021. Five of the 19 largest wildfires in Oregon and three of...
Southern California Wildfire Almost Fully Contained, Residents Go Home
Oct 19 2021 // Residents who fled the Alisal Fire west of Santa Barbara have been allowed to return home. All evacuation orders and warnings were canceled Sunday afternoon. The fire was 87% contained Monday morning and its size was...
Guy Carpenter Launches European Wildfire Risk Score as Exposure Management Tool
Oct 18 2021 // Guy Carpenter & Co., the reinsurance business of Marsh McLennan has announced the launch of a Wildfire Risk Score designed to help clients manage their exposure to the evolving risk of wildfire across Europe. The...
Wildfire Destroys School in Small Eastern Washington Town
Oct 15 2021 // A fire has destroyed a school in an eastern Washington town. Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers said the fire at Almira Elementary and Middle School started around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Classes and after school activities had...
California Highway Reopens, Wildfire Still Threatens Homes
Oct 15 2021 // A key Southern California highway closed for days because of a wildfire was reopened Thursday evening but authorities warned that flames still posed a threat to remote properties in a coastal mountain range. The Alisal...
Surging California Winds Spark New Wildfires, Power Outages
Oct 13 2021 // Blustery winds still surged through California on Tuesday after downing trees, fanning wildfires and shutting off power to about 21,000 customers in northern and central regions. Red flag warnings of dangerous fire...
California Encourages Prescribed Burns to Counter Wildfires
Oct 8 2021 // California is encouraging more use of fire to fight fire, such as when deliberately set burns were recently used to protect giant sequoias from a raging wildfire. But sometimes what are known as prescribed fires themselves...
U.S. Approves Fire Retardant That Could Be ‘Game-Changer’ in Fighting Wildfires
Oct 7 2021 // U.S. officials on this week approved a long-lasting fire retardant that could significantly aid in fighting increasingly destructive wildfires by stopping them before they ever start. The U.S. Forest Service approved...
Goats Being Brought in to Help Slow Colorado Wildfires
Oct 4 2021 // A group of horse trailers pulls up to a trailhead outside of Carbondale, Colo. The doors open and more than 800 goats jump out onto the gravel parking lot. The goats head straight for the closest grassy hill and...
Report Shows Wyoming, Idaho Have ‘Disproportionate Risk’ from Wildfire
Sep 29 2021 // Lately, when people say “wildfire,” California is probably the first state that comes to mind. But a new report out should concern people living in a few other Western states that aren’t often mentioned...
PG&E Charged in California Wildfire That Killed 4
Sep 29 2021 // Pacific Gas & Electric was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes after its equipment sparked a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes last year,...
