Western wildfires creating strain on insurance industry, homeowners: Report

The risk of having your home damaged or destroyed by a wildfire is increasing , according to a new report. As a result, homeowners are facing rising insurance costs, reconstruction costs or even no insurance coverage after devastating wildfires. Cotality, a data research company, issues yearly wildfire risk reports assessing the state of the wildfire insurance industry and the risk of damaging wildfires for certain parts of the United States. They found that more than 2.6 million homes across 14 states in the West face a moderate or greater risk of wildfires, with nearly half of the homes at very high wildfire risk. Those homes would cost $1.3 trillion to replace if they were destroyed by fire, according to Cotality. Of the homes under a moderate or higher threat of wildfires, more than 1.