Ongoing wildfires around Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada have now charred an area roughly the size of Rhode Island and could become the costliest wildfire ever to insurers.
According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, insured losses from the wildfire will fall between $3.4 billion and $6.9 billion (C$9 billion).
If accurate, even the low end of this predicted insured-loss range would make the Fort McMurray wildfire the worst ever in terms of insured losses, according to data from Swiss Re. By far, this fire would rank as the worst ever in Canada. Swiss Re also ranks the worst blazes in terms of economic losses.
Don Forgeron, the chief executive of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, has said the fire will likely be the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.
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Chad Hemenway is Managing Editor of Advisen News. He has more than 15 years of journalist experience at a variety of online, daily, and weekly publications. He has covered P&C insurance news since 2007, and he has experience writing about all P&C lines as well as regulation and litigation. Chad won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Single Article in 2014 for his coverage of the insurance implications of traumatic brain injuries and Best News Coverage in 2013 for coverage of Superstorm Sandy. Contact Chad at 212.897.4824 or [email protected].
