The $40 billion insured loss from the January 2025 Los Angeles fires was not a surprise — it was the outcome of decades of decisions: building in fire-prone WUI zones, suppressing fire pricing under Proposition 103, allowing grid infrastructure to age in wildfire corridors, and repeatedly choosing to fight fires rather than prevent them. This research tracks the insurance claims, payouts, premiums, and regulatory crisis created by 25 major wildfire events across the US, Australia, Europe, and globally — and documents the five utilities whose equipment started the fires that most redefined the world of wildfire insurance. A ForestSat research initiative.
All statistics sourced from insurance industry bodies, reinsurance company annual reports, government filings, and peer-reviewed financial research. Citations follow each figure.
Annual global wildfire insured losses have grown at approximately 12% per year, with extraordinary spikes in 2017–18 (California utility liability fires), 2019–20 (Australian Black Summer), and 2025 (Los Angeles). Below: approximate global insured wildfire losses by year, compiled from Swiss Re sigma, Munich Re NatCat reports, Insurance Council of Australia, and Insurance Bureau of Canada data. Not all years have fully separated wildfire from other fire peril data.
| Year | Global Wildfire Insured (approx.) | Scale (relative to $40B 2025) | Primary Driver Events & Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | ~$2B | Valley Fire CA ($75M suppression), Canada limited. USFS 2015 budget $1.7B. Swiss Re sigma 2015. | |
| 2016 | ~$5.5B | 🇨🇦 Fort McMurray CAD $3.8B insured (all-time Canadian record). Swiss Re sigma 2016. | |
| 2017 | ~$16B | 🇺🇸 North Bay CA fires ~$11.4B insured. Thomas Fire $244M suppression. Swiss Re sigma 2017. | |
| 2018 | ~$18B | 🇺🇸 Camp Fire ~$12.5B insured. Woolsey ~$6B losses. Costliest prior two-year stretch 2017–18 per Swiss Re. | |
| 2019 | ~$5B | 🇺🇸 Kincade ~$600M. Black Summer Australia begins Sept. Below-average US year. Swiss Re sigma 2019. | |
| 2020 | ~$15B | 🇦🇺 Black Summer peaks (AUD $2.4B ICA). 🇺🇸 CA megafire season; Cal Fire $1.76B. Swiss Re sigma 2020. | |
| 2021 | ~$14B | 🇺🇸 Dixie $637M suppression; Marshall CO $2B; Caldor $271M. USFS $4.4B total. Swiss Re sigma 2021. | |
| 2022 | ~$8B | 🇺🇸 Hermit's Peak $3.7B federal liability. 🇪🇺 Spain/France elevated. Swiss Re sigma 2022. | |
| 2023 | ~$10B | 🇺🇸 Lahaina $5.5B total ($1.99B HEI settlement). 🇨🇦 Canada season. Swiss Re sigma 2023. | |
| 2024 | ~$8B | 🇧🇷 Pantanal/Bolivia. 🇺🇸 Park Fire CA. Moderate US year pre-LA. Swiss Re sigma H2 2024. | |
| 2025 | ~$45B+ | 🔴 LA Palisades + Eaton $40B insured (Munich Re — global record). $107B total NatCat. H1 alone = $80B. Swiss Re/Munich Re NatCat 2025 reports. |
Sources: Swiss Re sigma annual reports · Munich Re NatCat annual reports · Insurance Council of Australia · Insurance Bureau of Canada · California CDI · Claims Journal. Note: figures are approximations combining multiple sources; exact figures vary by methodology and reporting period. Australian Black Summer (2019–20) split across two calendar years.
Documented insurance claims, insured losses, total economic losses, utility liability, and insurance market consequences for 25 major wildfires 2015–2025. Expand any record for the full insurance breakdown.
California's homeowners insurance market is experiencing the most severe structural crisis in its history. Between 2022 and 2025, insurers representing the majority of California's market share either stopped writing new policies, initiated mass non-renewals, or withdrew entirely. The following insurer cards document the key market actions of the major carriers.
Sources: Munich Re (insured); AccuWeather ($250–275B total); Congress.gov CRS; California CDI. Note: Munich Re total economic damage estimate is $53B; AccuWeather methodology produces higher totals including indirect costs.
Electric utility infrastructure — transmission towers, distribution lines, transformers — has been identified as the cause of some of the most destructive and expensive wildfires in history. California's unique "inverse condemnation" legal doctrine makes utilities strictly liable for any fire started by their equipment, regardless of negligence. The result: utilities have faced billions in claims, driven one to bankruptcy, and are collectively spending tens of billions on grid hardening.
PG&E ($25.5B settlement), PacifiCorp ($46B+ claims), Hawaiian Electric ($1.99B settlement), Southern California Edison ($1.6B bonds issued) and SDG&E (ongoing) represent the largest concentration of utility wildfire liability in global history — together exceeding $100 billion in claims, settlements, and bonds issued. All from infrastructure sparking fires in the wildland-urban interface. (PG&E SEC; Financier Worldwide; Canary Media)
AB 1054 (2019) — California's Wildfire Safety Bill created a $21 billion fund to pay third-party claims against California utilities that are certified as prudent operators. Utilities contribute $10.5 billion; the state contributes $10.5 billion. Utilities can access the fund for fires ignited by their infrastructure if they receive a "safety certification" from the CPUC. This effectively created a state-backed insurance backstop for utility wildfire liability, reducing the risk of PG&E-style bankruptcies — but the fund's adequacy is questioned given the scale of potential claims (PacifiCorp's Oregon claims alone exceed $46 billion).
SB 901 (2018) — Allowed utilities to borrow money and charge customers to pay back wildfire costs over many years, covering the 2017 fires and those before. This "securitisation" mechanism gave utilities a path to absorb wildfire costs without bankruptcy, but effectively transferred wildfire risk costs to California ratepayers through higher electricity bills.
The following documents the key actions taken by major insurers and reinsurers in response to escalating wildfire losses — including withdrawals, rate increases, FAIR Plan exposure, and reinsurance repricing.
California's FAIR Plan — the insurer of last resort — had $458 billion in total policy exposure as of September 2024, backed by only $377 million in available cash and $5.78 billion in reinsurance. In January 2025, the FAIR Plan president warned one event could cause insolvency. The January 2025 LA fires triggered a $1 billion emergency assessment on all California private insurers — State Farm alone paid $165 million of the assessment. The situation is untenable without fundamental market reform. (Independent Institute; Congress.gov CRS; State Farm Newsroom)
The protection gap — the difference between total economic losses and insured losses — is a defining feature of the wildfire insurance landscape. In developing nations, the gap is near-total. In the United States, even in the best-insured wildfire markets, large portions of losses remain uncovered. And for individual homeowners in fire-prone areas, the underinsurance crisis means that even those with policies may be left short of what they need to rebuild.
Percentage of 2021 Colorado Marshall Fire claimants who were underinsured — meaning policy limits were insufficient to rebuild at current construction costs. This illustrates that having insurance does not mean having adequate insurance. Construction inflation post-COVID outpaced policy limit updates. Congress.gov CRS (January 2025) cited this as evidence of a structural underinsurance crisis.
Indonesia 2015 peatland fires produced $16 billion in total economic losses (World Bank) against near-zero insured losses — one of the world's largest protection gaps from a single fire event. This pattern — enormous economic damage, near-zero private insurance — characterises wildfire losses across developing nations globally, from Southeast Asia to sub-Saharan Africa to parts of South America. (World Bank; GFED; CIFOR)
Annual increase in wildfire economic losses globally since 1970, according to Munich Re — illustrating the long-term structural trend independent of any single extreme event. Insured losses have grown faster than economic losses in the US, but remain a minority of total losses globally. The structural solution requires a combination of prevention investment reducing total losses, and better insurance penetration reducing the protection gap. (Munich Re; UNDRR January 2026)
Swiss Re Institute (Aug 2025). "Wildfires and severe thunderstorms in the US drive global insured losses to USD 80 billion in first half of 2025." swissre.com
Swiss Re Institute / Carbon Brief (Apr 2026). "How wildfires and storms drove insurance losses in 2025 – in three charts." carbonbrief.org
Munich Re (Jan 2026). NatCat Annual Report 2025. Cited in UNDRR. undrr.org
Insurance Journal (Aug 2025). "Global Insured Losses From Natural Disasters Could Top $150B in 2025: Swiss Re Report." insurancejournal.com
Claims Journal (Jan 2025). "LA Wildfires by The Numbers: Insured Losses, Total Losses, Ratings, Rates." claimsjournal.com
Milliman (Feb 2025). "Industry insured losses for Los Angeles wildfires." milliman.com
Insurance Journal (Jan 2025). "Insurance Payouts at $4 Billion and Counting for LA Wildfires." insurancejournal.com
Independent Institute (May 2025). "Why California's Homeowners' Insurance Market Collapsed." independent.org
Congress.gov CRS (Jan 2025). "Homeowners Insurance and California Wildfires." congress.gov
State Farm Newsroom (Jul 2025). "State Farm in California: Understanding the Issues." newsroom.statefarm.com
Deep Sky Climate (2025). "Insurers Retreat as 2025 Wildfire Risk Reaches Dangerous Levels." deepskyclimate.com
Merlin Law Group (2025). "California Fire Insurance Crisis: Why Insurers Are Cancelling Policies." merlinlawgroup.com
Farella Braun + Martel (May 2025). "The Evolving Landscape of Wildfire Insurance in California." fbm.com
Optalitix (2025). "How the California Wildfires Are Reshaping the Insurance Industry." optalitix.com
PG&E SEC 8-K (March 2020). "$13.5 Billion Wildfire Settlement." sec.gov
PG&E 10-K (2018). Wildfire contingency disclosures and insurance data. sec.gov
Utility Dive (Dec 2019). "Judge approves PG&E wildfire settlements." utilitydive.com
Canary Media (Aug 2023). "Who pays when utilities get sued over wildfires?" canarymedia.com
Financier Worldwide. "Power finance in a new normal for wildfires." PacifiCorp, Hawaiian Electric, SCE. financierworldwide.com
Watts Trial Firm (Feb 2024). "Historic $13.5 Billion PG&E Wildfire Settlement." wattstrialfirm.com
CalMatters (Jun 2020). "The big problem this bankruptcy won't solve for PG&E." calmatters.org
Insurance Bureau of Canada. Fort McMurray fire insured loss data. IBC annual reports 2016–2023.
Insurance Council of Australia (ICA). Black Summer 2019–20 insured loss data. insurancecouncil.com.au
Edison International (Dec 2018). "Understanding Inverse Condemnation." SEC testimony filing. sec.gov
World Bank (2015). Indonesia wildfire economic loss estimate. Report on 2015 peatland fires.
Insurance.com (Jan 2026). "State Farm in California: What you need to know." insurance.com
Insurance Journal (Feb 2025). "California Wildfire Losses: Net or Gross?" insurancejournal.com