California Wildfires News

PG&E Cut Power to 2,000 as Extreme Heat Bakes California

PG&E Corp. cut power to about 2,000 homes and businesses in Northern California as triple-digit temperatures, strong winds and low humidity heightened the risk of wildfires. The utility said it preemptively shut power across small areas of eight counties and …

California Wildfire Outlook: ‘A Challenging Season for Firefighters’

While the official start to California’s wildfire season is still a ways off, the best forecast of what’s ahead may be to look back on the year so far, and so far it’s been far busier for firefighters than last …

Wildfire Threats Make Utilities Uninsurable in US West

Trinity Public Utilities District’s power lines snake through the lower reaches of the Cascade Range, a rugged, remote and densely forested terrain in Northern California that has some of the highest wildfire risk in the country. But for several years, …

Northern California Wildfire at 15K-Plus Acres, Containment Grows on Fire in South

A wildfire is raging through a large swath of western Sacramento Valley after igniting on Monday and spreading to 15,656 acres. Evacuations were ordered in rural areas around the Sites Fire in Colusa County, which is burning roughly 70 miles …

Farmers to Resume Offering Key Lines of Business Insurance in California

Farmers Insurance said it will resume accepting new business commercial multi-peril applications for auto service & repair, habitational, manufacturing, real estate and wholesale distribution policies in California. The action follows the insurer group’s recent decision to lift its temporary moratorium …

‘Buffett Got it Wrong’ on California Fire Risk: PG&E CEO

Warren Buffett’s warning that wildfires have turned utilities across the western US into risky investments is mistaken โ€” at least in California, according to the head of the state’s largest electricity provider. “Frankly, I think Buffett got it wrong in …

California Sees Two More Property Insurers Withdraw From Market

California’s already strained property insurance market is facing a new challenge as two more insurers, Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co., plan to withdraw from the wildfire-prone state entirely starting in July. The two companies, units …

Survey Shows Majority of Florida, California Homeowners Seeing Higher Insurance Costs

Few people in Florida and California will be surprises to hear that the majority of homeowners in those states have been affected by rising property insurance costs. A survey by Redfin, a U.S. real estate broker, found that just over …

US Wildfires Are Getting Bigger and More Complex, Prompting Changes in Firefighting

It’s shaping up to be a long wildfire season, with Texas already seeing its largest blaze in recorded history and firefighters becoming overwhelmed with recent blazes in Virginia. Just in the first three months of the year, more than 2,669 …

Huge Texas Blaze Shows Power-Line Fires Are a Widespread Threat

Massive wildfires sparked by power lines used to be a California problem, one many utility executives considered safely confined to the Golden State. No more. Texas officials on Thursday blamed the state’s largest-ever fire on electrical lines sparking in dry …