The Waldo Canyon Fire, northwest of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, destroyed over 300 properties - making it the most destructive wildfire recorded in the state’s history. It came after a week of Texas wildfires in which insured losses from more than 180 outbreaks could reach $250 million.
But wildfires are a big problem in many countries – and there may be worse to come. A recent report from climate scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Texas Tech University says that climate change is disrupting wildfire risk around the world. The scientists say, “substantial and rapid shifts are projected for future fire activity across vast portions of the globe”.
The scientists found that by the end of the century, almost all of North America and most of Europe will see a jump in the frequency of wildfires, primarily because of increasing temperature trends, and that decreases in fire activity (due to increased rainfall) are less pronounced and concentrated primarily in a few tropical and subtropical places.
“There is a growing body of evidence that points to more frequent and severe wildfires as a result of climate change,” says Neil J. Smith, Manager of Emerging Risks & Research at Lloyd's. “A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that drought, coupled with extreme heat and low humidity can increase the risk of wildfire.”
Smith says that underwriters who continue to rely on traditional risk assessment and pricing methods based on past experience - unaware of such climate-driven developments - could under-price the risk....
A helicopter dropping water on the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado, shot by Charles McCain,
Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, nder the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
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