Latest Wildfire Headlines
All the headlines from our Wildfire Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Wildfires Bring Disaster Declaration in Kansas, Burn Ban in Nebraska
Mar 16 2018 // Gov. Jeff Colyer issued a disaster declaration for three wildfires currently burning in central Kansas. State officials announced that Rice County officials have asked for help from the Kansas National Guard to fight the...
Kansas Governor Issues Wildfire Disaster Declaration
Mar 6 2018 // Forecasters are warning of a high risk of wildfires after one blaze burned 10,000 hay bales in the southwest part of the state. Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer signed an emergency disaster declaration Sunday when the large bales...
California Spent $1.8B Fighting 2017 Wildfires
Mar 5 2018 // California state agencies spent nearly $1.8 billion fighting fierce wildfires that killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses last year, legislative budget experts reported Thursday. The...
Fire Chiefs in California Want Money to Prepare for Wildfires
Mar 1 2018 // California fire chiefs said that reinforcements were too slow to arrive in last year’s ferocious firestorms and asked lawmakers for $100 million to call in extra firefighters when weather conditions are ripe for a...
California Officials Lacked Good Fire Alert Plan, Report Shows
Feb 28 2018 // Officials in a Northern California county were ill-prepared, disorganized and lacked sufficient training when deadly, fast-moving wildfires broke out last October endangering about 100,000 people, according to a report...
Berkshire’s 14-Year Insurance Win Streak Comes to an End
Feb 26 2018 // Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s combination of insurance entities have recorded 14 consecutive years of underwriting profit worth more than $28 billion. The Oracle from Omaha has repeatedly warned his...
AIG’s Doubling of Q4 Loss Pinned on Wildfires, Tax Act
Feb 9 2018 // American International Group reported a net loss of $6.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to a net loss of $3.0 billion in the prior-year quarter. The fourth quarter of 2017 net loss included a charge of...
Climate Change and the ‘Fire Insurance Predicament’
Feb 8 2018 // A Washington-based conservative group is suing for information on the U.S. government’s “backstage work” on the Paris agreement it says will help pave the way for President Trump’s withdrawal from...
CoreLogic Identifies Flood and Wildfire as the Two Most Destructive Natural Hazards in 2017
Feb 7 2018 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis Details 2017 Natural Hazard Events CoreLogic® analyzes and evaluates the number and severity of natural hazard events...
Thousands of Acres Scorched by Northeastern Oklahoma Wildfires
Feb 5 2018 // Firefighters say wildfires have scorched thousands of acres of dry grasslands in northeastern Oklahoma. Dozens of firefighters fought a grassfire along Oklahoma Highway 20 in Osage County Saturday evening that officials...
Winter Wildfires Scorch Oklahoma
Feb 5 2018 // Firefighters say wildfires have scorched hundreds of acres in western Oklahoma, damaging fences and equipment but causing no injuries. Capt. Forrest Valentine of the Clinton Fire Department said firefighters battled two...
Texas AG Sues Tree Company Over Deadly, Damaging 2011 Wildfire
Feb 5 2018 // Texas is suing a vegetation management company that it alleges caused the 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. The lawsuit filed on Jan. 19 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton...
Report Calls out California Wildfires Among 2017 U.S. Hazards
Feb 5 2018 // CoreLogic’s annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis released in late January shows that 2017 was a year of relatively average activity for most U.S. natural hazards with the exception of wildfires in...
Statewide Claims for California Wildfires Reach Nearly $12B
Jan 31 2018 // Insurers have received nearly 45,000 insurance claims totaling more than $11.79 billion in losses from the wildfires that burned across the state in October and December 2017, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones...
Chubb Records Solid Q4 and Year Despite Catastrophe Losses
Jan 31 2018 // Chubb had a solid last quarter of 2017 and year even though challenged by wildfire and other catastrophe costs. Fourth quarter results were enhanced by a one-time gain from the Trump tax cuts. The insurer booked $1.5...
Winter Wildfires Scorch Western Oklahoma
Jan 30 2018 // Firefighters say wildfires have scorched hundreds of acres in western Oklahoma, damaging fences and equipment but causing no injuries. Capt. Forrest Valentine of the Clinton Fire Department said Sunday firefighters battled...
2017’s Natural Hazards and the Destruction They Brought: CoreLogic
Jan 25 2018 // CoreLogic’s annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis shows that 2017 was a year of relatively average activity for most U.S. natural hazards with the exception of wildfires in California and flooding from...
Insured Natural Disaster Losses in 2017 Were 38% of Economic Costs of $353B: Aon
Jan 24 2018 // Insured losses for last year’s 330 natural catastrophes reached US$134 billion, or 38 percent of their economic price tag of $353 billion, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s...
Losses From Southern California Fire Could Reach $2.5B, Expert Says
Jan 23 2018 // Losses from the Thomas Fire in Southern California are expected to fall between $1 billion and $2.5 billion, a catastrophe modeling firm said on Tuesday. The Thomas Fire, which raged across Southern California’s...
Tree Company Sued, Blamed for 2011 Texas Wildfire that Killed 2
Jan 23 2018 // Texas is suing a vegetation management company that it alleges caused the 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. The lawsuit filed on Jan. 19 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton...
