The biggest lessons from catastrophes such as Fort McMurray, and how to apply them in the future
With hundreds of claims from the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire still unresolved as of late last month, Alberta residents could be forgiven for still worrying about wildfire risks in their own backyard. The Canadian Press recently reported that as of…
CALGARY – A University of Calgary study says there need to be more wide, open spaces to prevent catastrophic wildfires like the one that devastated the city of Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta two years ago. Researchers from the university’s…
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Deadlines have been extended for hundreds of insurance claims that remain unresolved more than two years after a wildfire dubbed “The Beast” tore through Fort McMurray and surrounding areas in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.…
Facebook, Twitter and similar web services can suck up a lot of a worker’s time, but insurance brokers should figure out how to use social media to support the business. “There is nothing supremely special about social media,” said Kat…
A $147-million reinsurance dispute involving Fort McMurray wildfire claims got off to a rocky start because the insurer and its reinsurers could not initially agree on the method of arbitration. At the heart of the matter was a broad reference…
On May 3, 2016 a massive wildfire swept through the remote Alberta community of Fort McMurray, necessitating the largest wildfire evacuation in Canadian history, with upwards of 88,000 people fleeing their homes. May 3rd was a turning point as well…
Insurance professionals should be planning in advance how they will get emergency funds into the hands of their insured clients during a natural catastrophe, a senior Intact Insurance executive told the C4 2018 conference in Ottawa Friday. Finding alternative ways…
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Lawmakers in Fort McMurray have approved a plan to help prevent destructive wildfires such as the one that ravaged the community in 2016. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council says the five-year mitigation strategy includes…
With the rise of multiple major catastrophe events in Canada, look for primary insurers to start seeking aggregate reinsurance covers as a means to adapt to climate change-related losses. “It’s the new normal that the companies are going to have…
Despite a “relatively benign” year in Canada for catastrophes in 2017, the industry-wide combined ratio in Canada was still fairly high at 96.8% during the first nine months of last year, with auto results partly to blame, MSA Research reported…
The wildfire insurance losses incurred in Fort McMurray, Alberta in 2016 are the costliest in Canadian history. The fire involved residential property, businesses, municipal property and landscape over an area of 590,000 hectares. The Insurance Bureau of Canada Costs estimated…