九色

Wildfire losses in the U.S. are increasing, but the risk is still considerably smaller than hurricanes, according to a new KCC white paper.

While we usually think of California and other western states鈥攅specially since the devastating LA wildfires in January鈥擪CC said that nearly every state in the U.S. has some exposure to wildfire losses.

The cost to build the same single-family home has more than doubled since 2011, KCC noted. Combine these cost increases with the growing number of structures in areas prone to severe weather, and every loss seems like a new record.

Climate change is impacting both the frequency and severity of wildfires, KCC said, noting that the number of large wildfires鈥攕pecifically those engulfing over 10,000 acres鈥攈as more than doubled since 1985.

that the loss potential from wildfires has nearly doubled during this 30-year time frame, as well.

Despite this increased risk, KCC said wildfire losses are still nowhere near hurricane losses. While both risks are accelerating due to climate change鈥攁bout a 3% increase in loss potential for wildfires per year compared to 0.5% for hurricanes, KCC said it will take decades for annual expected wildfire losses to catch up with hurricane losses.

KCC said wildfires can be difficult to model because of the “dynamic nature of fire spread and the sensitivity of the direction and rate of spread to many variables, including winds, topography, moisture, and vegetation.” However, the catastrophe modeling firm said its KCC Wildfire Model accurately predicted the loss from the Palisades and Eaton fires in real time while they were occurring and, more importantly, years before they happened.

Topics Trends Catastrophe Natural Disasters Profit Loss Wildfire Hurricane