California Wildfires News

California Governor Suspends Mobile Home Regulations to Help Fire Victims

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed an executive order removing barriers to mobile home construction and placement in an effort to help residents displaced by the recent Southern California mudslides and wildfires. The order suspends for three months all regulations included …

Everest Re Expects Q1 Catastrophe Losses of $100M on Rising California Wildfire Claims

Everest Re Group Ltd. estimates it will incur $100 million of catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance recoverables and reinstatement premiums, in the first quarter of 2018, largely arising from the California wildfires and related events. Everest said its original loss …

California Chief Justice Expects an Influx of Wildfire Claims

California courts are preparing for an influx of lawsuits tied to last year’s historically destructive wildfires and mudslides, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told lawmakers this week in her annual “state of the judiciary” address. Cantil-Sakauye, who has sparred with President …

California Spent $1.8B Fighting 2017 Wildfires

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 federal government will reimburse most of the costs, but the …

Fire Chiefs in California Want Money to Prepare for Wildfires

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 conflagration. The fire chiefs said drought …

California Officials Lacked Good Fire Alert Plan, Report Shows

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 from California emergency managers. Sonoma County officials requested the state review …

Climate Change and the ‘Fire Insurance Predicament’

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 the agreement. The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently filed a lawsuit …

Statewide Claims for California Wildfires Reach Nearly $12B

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 announced today. The fires in Northern California in …

Losses From Southern California Fire Could Reach $2.5B, Expert Says

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 Ventura and Santa Barbara counties throughout most …

Insurers Increasing Payments to California Wildfire Victims Sans Itemization

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday released the results of the formal notice he issued last month to all residential property insurers requesting they provide up to 100 percent of contents coverage limits for fire survivors who experienced a …