Wildfires

A bill — known as the Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act — was recently introduced in both chambers of Congress, and enjoys bipartisan support.

As the insurance crisis deepens in the West and across the country, policies known as surplus lines are becoming more important. This lightly regulated and previously niche corner of the insurance market comes with a number of risks, and a new report from Climate Cabinet Education offers policy recommendations.

In 2025, roughly 4.5% of Utah homeowners policies — or nearly 1 in 20 — were not renewed by insurance providers. That’s the highest rate in the country, and 1.5% higher than the number two state California.

The faster a fire burns, the more severe its ecological impacts. That’s one of the findings of a new paper in the journal Science Advances. Climate change only promises to further accelerate those fires, according to its lead author.

Blame wildfires and hail — made more destructive by climate change — for the deteriorating insurance situation in the West. Add in hurricanes and other disasters elsewhere, and it’s a nationwide trend — one that a new report from the advocacy group the Insurance Fairness Project says is threatening home sales.

From Spokane, Wash. to Pueblo County, Colo., fast-moving fires have again wreaked havoc in neighborhoods this summer. Now, a network of scientists, fire professionals and other experts have joined forces to seek research-based solutions to the problem.

So-called process based restoration (PBR) has a number of ecological benefits. But it can make ecosystems more resilient to wildfires when they come, and better able to recover in their wake.

There were early signs that this fire season could be a big one, especially the record-low snowpack last winter. In Teton County — near the Grand Targhee Resort — that spurred interest in a novel effort: raising money to help hire a local wildfire mitigation coordinator.

A deadly flood in Nepal offers a chilling reminder of what can happen when heavy rain hists a wildfire-scarred landscape, which Idaho has also seen on a smaller-scale.

In some parts of the West - like the grass and shrublands of the Idaho-Oregon-Nevada tristate area - closer to two-thirds of burned area is associated with heatwaves.