Wildfire Insured Prop Damage Nears $100M
Tuesday, August 15th, 2000 Catastrophe PropertyNearly 65,000 wildfires have scorched more than 4.3 million acres this year, causing an estimated $100 million in insured losses to homes and other property, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). Standard business, homeowners and auto policies will cover damage and destruction resulting from the wildfires, noted the I.I.I. The insured losses from the 82 wildfires now ravaging nearly one million acres in 13 Western states could be as high as $25 million. The wildfires in Los Alamos, New Mexico, which took place in May of this year, resulted in more than $70 million in insured losses. The I.I.I. said that many homes are destroyed needlessly because developers, homeowners and regulators fail to build-in simple, inexpensive and common sense fire-safe design features. The widespread use of wooden roof shingles has contributed to these losses.
