Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Thousands of Lawsuits Demanding PG&E Pay for Damages from Wildfires
Feb 18 2019 // Some 1,000 lawsuits have been filed since late 2017 demanding Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation pay for damages caused by wildfires. The lawsuits represent thousands of people, companies, cities and counties affected...
Predicting Path of Spreading Wildfires
Feb 18 2019 // A University of Missouri researcher is teaming up with scholars in Kansas and Georgia to develop drone technology to monitor and potentially predict the spread of wildfires. The $1.2 million project will use drones to...
California Weighs Buying Disaster Insurance Policy to Cover Wildfire Costs
Feb 14 2019 // California’s insurance commissioner and a lawmaker want to the state to consider buying insurance in the private market to cover rapidly increasing costs of fighting wildfires due to climate change. State Sen. Bill...
Firefighters Gain Upper Hand over New Zealand Wildfires; Evacuees Return Home
Feb 12 2019 // About 3,000 people who fled as a wildfire threatened a New Zealand town were allowed to return home Monday [Feb. 11] as firefighting conditions improved. Another 400 residents living in valleys near the fire aren’t...
Firefighters Endangered During California Blaze, New Report Shows
Feb 11 2019 // Poor communication, short staffing and infighting among agencies may have endangered firefighters who nearly died during the massive Mendocino Complex of wildfires in Northern California, according to a new report...
Another California Utility One Wildfire Away From Ruin
Feb 11 2019 // The warning couldn’t have been clearer. As PG&E Corp. plunged into bankruptcy last month, S&P Global Ratings slashed credit grades almost to junk status for California’s two other big electric...
PG&E Vows to Improve Wildfire Prevention
Feb 8 2019 // The nation’s largest utility is promising to overhaul its wildfire-prevention measures in response to growing legal, financial and public pressure over its role in starting some of the most destructive blazes in...
Boeing Sued for Negligence in Southern California Wildfire
Feb 7 2019 // Boeing Co. was accused of negligence tied to a wildfire that tore through Malibu, California, in November and that purportedly started on the grounds of the nearby, disused Rocketdyne testing site. A group of homeowners...
PG&E Could Kill Lights to Customers When California Wildfires Occur
Feb 7 2019 // Anyone who gets power from PG&E Corp. could see their lights go out this fire season. Even the millions of Californians who live outside risky areas could be left in the dark under a sweeping proposal the utility filed...
California Fire Safe Council Announces 2019 Officers and Board
Feb 5 2019 // The California Fire Safe Council on Tuesday announced a list of new officers of the board of directors. Jerry Davies has been elected to a fifth term as chairman of the CFSC board. Davies is a founding member of CFSC and a...
Thousands of Lawsuits Demanding PG&E Pay for Damages from Wildfires
Feb 5 2019 // Some 1,000 lawsuits have been filed since late 2017 demanding Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation pay for damages caused by wildfires. The lawsuits represent thousands of people, companies, cities and counties affected...
Bankruptcy Won’t End Problem PG&E Must Still Deal With: Wildfires
Feb 4 2019 // Big corporations forced into bankruptcy by liability lawsuits often take the offending product off the market and try to move on. That’s what happened with the Dalkon Shield birth control device, asbestos and...
Expert Ponders California Wildfire Commission, Other Solutions to State’s Severe Seasons
Feb 4 2019 // Establishing a California Wildfire Commission is just one idea an expert is tossing out to help the state deal with worsening fire seasons. James Woods was formerly co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Global Insurance...
AM Best Says Specialty Insurer Exposures to PG&E Bankruptcy Within Risk Appetites
Feb 1 2019 // Specialty companies specifically operating in the utility sector are likely to face substantial claims and losses stemming from the bankruptcy filing by PG&E Corp., the California utility whose equipment is being...
PG&E in California Vows to Keep The Lights on Despite Bankruptcy
Feb 1 2019 // Utility owner PG&E Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in anticipation of liabilities from California wildfires, including a catastrophic 2018 blaze that killed 86 people. PG&E, which provides...
California Wants Faster Forestry Approvals in Wildfire Fight
Jan 31 2019 // California wildland managers said this week that they want to speed up logging and prescribed burns designed to slow wildfires that have devastated communities in recent years. After the deadliest and most destructive...
Judge Says PG&E Has ‘Clear-Cut’ Pattern of Starting Wildfires
Jan 31 2019 // A federal judge who has emerged as a vocal critic of PG&E Corp.’s safety record, said the California utility giant has a “clear-cut pattern” of starting wildfires and needs “strong...
A Look at PG&E’s Rapid Fall After California Wildfires
Jan 30 2019 // On an unusually warm day in northern California, hot and dry winds whipped through the Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of San Francisco. It was Thursday, Nov. 8, and a “red-flag warning” from the National...
Expert Ponders California Wildfire Commission, Other Solutions to State’s Severe Seasons
Jan 29 2019 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv Establishing a California Wildfire Commission is just one idea an expert is tossing out to help the state deal with worsening fire seasons. James Woods was formerly co-leader of Mayer...
PG&E in California Files for Bankruptcy in Wake of Wildfire Liabilities
Jan 29 2019 // Power provider PG&E Corp. filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, succumbing to liabilities stemming from wildfires in Northern California in 2017 and 2018. The owner of the biggest U.S. power...
