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…
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…
Recent record wildfire losses in California serve as a reminder to Canadians that certain buildings separated from the woods can still burn down, a Canadian disaster prevention research executive suggests. Losses from the California wildfires, in excess of $10 billion,…
What is needed to create enhanced focus and kick-start more action with regard to the wildfire peril in Canada? Approaches deserving of a look (or a closer look) range from improving stakeholder understanding of the potential related losses to rethinking how the peril needs to be modelled and addressed within insurance policies.
The B.C. wildfires and losses related to commercial auto and motorcycle contributed to Echelon Insurance witnessing a 42% decrease in net income and an increase in combined operating ratio for 2017 Q3 compared to 2016 Q3. Net income amounted to…
The above-average activity for the Atlantic hurricanes season so far – a season that is not yet done – is already a capital event for p&c reinsurers and the remainder plus wildfire activity likely only contributes to nervousness, S&P Global…
The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) will be hosting a webinar later this month on vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies related to exposure of buildings to wildfire. The webinar, to be held from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EDT on…
WATERTON, Alta. – Parks Canada says the wildfire in southwestern Alberta is no longer out of control and is being held. But the agency says the Kenow fire in Waterton Lakes National Park is still active and covers an estimated…
British Columbia’s wildfire-driven provincial state of emergency expired at midnight (Pacific time) on Friday, the province’s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has reported. The state of emergency was declared on July 7 and extended four times over the…
Several evacuation orders related to the Kenow wildfire have been lifted, while others remain in effect as the fire continues burning in southwestern Alberta about two weeks after it was initially discovered. The mandatory evacuation order for Cardston County was…
KELOWNA, B.C. – Hundreds of people forced from their homes by a wildfire burning east of Kelowna, B.C., have been allowed to return, but others remain displaced. The Central Okanagan Regional District said an evacuation order for 263 properties was lifted Sunday morning and about 600 residents are now allowed to go home.
About 400 other residents remain under evacuation order due to the flames, and people who have been allowed to return will remain on evacuation alert, meaning they must be prepared…
The Allstate Corp. announced July 20 it estimates its catastrophe losses for the three months ending June 30 will be $993 million, pre-tax, of which $310 million is from 17 events in June alone. Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate reported in August,…