With wildfire season already underway in Alberta and British Columbia, brokers will be looking at how insurance can help their clients mitigate any losses. But brokers and clients alike may not know that the ability to bind coverage could be…
HIGH LEVEL, Alta. – Fire officials say the winds continue to be favourable as crews battle a large wildfire burning a few kilometres from a northwestern Alberta town. Nearly 5,000 people have cleared out of High Level and nearby First…
EDMONTON – The Alberta government has imposed a fire ban and restrictions on off-highway vehicle use in the northern half of the province. The government says the decision was made due to the growing threat of wildfires. The areas affected…
BIGGAR, Sask. – Saskatchewan’s fire commissioner is urging people across the province not to have open fires as a wildfire around the town of Biggar sparked a state of emergency and some evacuations. Duane McKay says crews are assessing what…
PEMBERTON, B.C. – Residents of the Lil’wat First Nation just east of Pemberton, B.C., are closely watching a grass and brush fire that broke out late Tuesday afternoon. The First Nation set up an emergency operations centre and warned residents…
The world’s second-largest reinsurer is looking for partners in the artificial intelligence space to help the reinsurer get a better idea of how much insured damage future wildfires could cause. Swiss Re is working with the Massachusetts Institute of technology…
After a couple of close calls last year in B.C. and Ontario, can we say we are better prepared for a wildfire cat?
SAN FRANCISCO – A U.S. judge who has berated Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. for its role in California wildfires demanded Thursday that the utility answer more questions about its efforts to clear trees and branches that can fall on…
The biggest lessons from catastrophes such as Fort McMurray, and how to apply them in the future
WASHINGTON – Both nature and humans share blame for California’s devastating wildfires, but forest management did not play a major role, despite President Donald Trump’s claims, fire scientists say. Nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, and…
Climate change has turned the risk of wildfire into a year-round peril in Western Canada, a geography expert says. In the past, wildfire season started in April or May and ended some time in October, said Dominic Ford, senior geospatial…
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – British Columbia’s wildfire service says precipitation and favourable weather have allowed it to contain one of the province’s largest active wildfires, more than a month after it was initially discovered. After growing to more than 900…