Insurance Crisis In California: Wildfire Risk Underestimated

While the world watches the Australian bushfires ravage the country, it’s not the only region that’s felt the brute force of the fiery catastrophe.

The past year may not have been California’s worst wildfire season on record — that title went to 2018 — but still, in late October, fires broke out throughout the state and led to the evacuation of more than 200,000 people as well as a declaration of a state of emergency, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Meanwhile, between January 01 and November 22, 2019, the National Interagency Fire Center reported 46,706 wildfires (compared to 52,080 wildfires over the same period in 2018) and about 4.6 million acres burned, compared to 8.5 million acres the previous year.

Some of the reasons for the less intense wildfire season included a reprieve from wind.