Last Updated 2/21/2020
Wildfires continue to be a significant risk for property owners across the United States, with millions of properties at high or very high risk and total annual damage often exceeding a billion dollars. The frequency,
Last Updated 2/21/2020
Wildfires continue to be a significant risk for property owners across the United States, with millions of properties at high or very high risk and total annual damage often exceeding a billion dollars. The frequency, size, and intensity of wildfires vary significantly by year, but many of the worst years for wildfires have been in the past decade. Total acreage burned only surpassed 9 million twice between 1960 and 2010. Since then, acres burned surpassed 9 million in 2012, 2015, and 2017. As of early October 2019, 4.4 million acres were destroyed, with just over half of the acreage burned in Alaska alone. Many factors are involved in creating conditions that are primed for severe wildfires, such as climate and weather variability.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), the 2018 fire season was below normal for number of acres burned, along with the number of reported wildfires. Between January 1 and December 30, 2018 there were 58,083 wildfires in the US, which burned 8,767,492 acres. According to a recent study, 2017 to early 2018 wildfires, heat waves, and droughts in the US produced $12.33 billion in insured losses.
While some estimates indicate nearly 85 percent of wildfires are caused by human activity, there is much evidence to indicate that severity of wildfires in recent years may be linked to changing climate and weather variability. Climatic changes are likely influencing recent wildfire trends. Wildfire seasons are starting earlier, due to warmer spring temperatures and earlier snow melt, and they are extending longer into the fall. Years with warmer spring temperatures and reduced spring snowpack tend to be the years with the most wildfires. Additionally, human development near traditionally fire-prone ecosystems has contributed to significant losses due to wildfires.
While all 50 states have incurred wildfire damage at some point in the past 10 years, wildfires are most common in the Central and Western states, where dry conditions, strong winds and extreme heat fuels fire and increases the number of acres burned. Wildfires can also be man-made. While some wildfires occur naturally without human intervention, such as those attributable to lightning strike, wildfires are often caused by humans either intentionally or unintentionally. These fires mostly occur during the summer months when the weather is hot, dry and windy. Man-made fires are often caught earlier and, therefore, losses are not as high as natural fires. This is most likely due to the fact man-made fires are started closer to habitable areas and are, therefore, detected much earlier.
The number of communities being built in natural wildland areas, known as wildland-urban interface (WUI), could be also be contributing to the rise in extreme wildfires. More people are moving into the WUI to take advantage of the privacy, natural beauty and affordable living. The population shift has contributed to new fire threats; as additional neighborhoods are built in rural areas, the potential for incurred losses has grown.
The Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is a collaborative plan created by fire departments, state and local forestry staff, land managers, community leaders and the public in an area at-risk from wildland fire. The CWPP assesses a given community’s wildfire risk and outlines ways to reduce or mitigate that risk. One risk mitigation technique is land management. Land management techniques can be put to use by foresters, land managers and homeowners to create and maintain defensible areas around homes and businesses.
Moreover, protecting property from wildfire damage requires preventative action well before the flames start. Property insurance policies typically provide protection against losses due to wildfires. ISO Homeowners 3 Special Form (HO-3) provides coverage for a house and its contents. There are several applicable coverages under HO-3 in case of wildfire damage or even loss of use due to forced evacuation. Coverage A provides coverage for a house and its contents, as well as any structures attached to the premises, such as a garage or deck. Coverage B covers detached structures, such as fences, sheds or barns, but excludes any structure for which renta