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RMS and ImageCat Release Research Report on 2007 U.S. Wildfire Season
• Analysis shows marked increase in California wildfire risk
• On average, 70% of historical U.S. insured losses from wildfire are
from properties in Southern California
Newark, CA –
February 21, 2008 – Risk Management Solutions (RMS) and ImageCat, Inc. have today issued a joint research report on the 2007
U.S. wildfire season. With a potential $2.5 billion in insured losses in
California alone, last year ranks as one of the costliest wildfire
seasons in recent history. As urban development continues to escalate on
the wildland fringes, the risk is likely to increase in the future.
In October 2007, Southern California was hit
particularly hard by an outbreak of wildfires that resulted in the
destruction of over 3,000 buildings. The dry winter and summer months
gave rise to abundant surface fuel, which was extremely susceptible to
wildfires, and when combined with the strong Santa Ana winds ignited 23
separate fires that consumed almost 520,000 acres of land. Insured
losses were primarily due to burnt residential structures and their
contents, but other claims included smoke damage, additional living
expenses due to the mandatory evacuation, burned automobiles, and a
limited number of damaged or destroyed commercial structures.
RMS analysis reveals that, in the past ten years of California wildfire
history, close to 1,350 structures have burned on average each year,
with an estimated annual insured loss of some $490 million—nearly twice
the long-term average. Moreover, while on average, less than 10% of the
burnt areas in the U.S. are in California, around 70% of the total
insured losses are from properties in Southern California. The counties
between Santa Barbara and San Diego house some 60% of the Californian
population that has been especially hard hit by wildfires.
“Housing developments are rapidly expanding into wildland areas, which
create an environment in which fire can readily move between structural
and vegetation fuels, increasing the threat to people and their
properties,” commented Patricia Grossi, senior researcher at RMS. “Last
year’s California wildfires serve as a stark reminder of the need to
manage and mitigate this peril through more risk-informed decisions.”
RMS teamed with ImageCat, a pioneer in disaster
aerial reconnaissance technologies, to survey the damage from the 2007
Southern California outbreak. ImageCat flew four aerial reconnaissance
missions over the most affected areas to derive accurate fire perimeters
and build a database of destroyed structures. “Data integration has the
power to maximize accuracy and reduce uncertainties surrounding loss
estimates,” commented Beverley Adams, remote sensing technical director
at ImageCat. RMS analyzed these datasets in conjunction with the
detailed, high-resolution RMS® Wildfire Hazard Data to validate wildfire
threat, susceptibility, and hazard in Southern California.
About ImageCat
ImageCat, Inc. is an international risk management innovation company,
whose mission it is to support the global risk and disaster management
needs of today, using the technologies of tomorrow. The company is
highly regarded for its cutting-edge research, with the remote sensing
division focusing on designing tools that better quantify the built
environment, together with the risks and impacts associated with
terrorist attacks, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and other disasters.
More information can be found at www.imagecatinc.com.
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