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54 UC Davis L. Rev. 817 (2020-2021)
America on Fire: Climate Change, Wildfires & Insuring Natural Catastrophes

handle is hein.journals/davlr54 and id is 823 raw text is: America on Fire: Climate Change, Wildfires & Insuring Natural Catastrophes Christopher C. French* America is on fire. The damage, destruction, and loss of life caused by wildfires have exploded over the past few decades. Nine of the ten worst fire seasons have occurred in the past fifteen years, with 2017 and 2018 being the worst years ever. Despite spending approximately $3.7 billion annually on fire suppression, more than 35,000 structures were lost to wildfires in 2017 and 2018, approximately $32 billion in property losses occurred, and more than 100 people were killed. More than forty million homes worth approximately $187 billion in the U.S. are currently at a high risk of destruction due to wildfires. In response to this crisis, the insurance industry has been dropping customers and refusing to insure homes that are considered at high risk for wildfires, while also excluding coverage under homeowners policies for other natural catastrophes such as floods and earth movement. As a result, natural catastrophes are largely uninsured in America today. This Article discusses the causes of the wildfire crisis, including climate change, and ways to mitigate the crisis. It also analyzes the current insurance market for wildfires and other natural catastrophes in America. In doing so, it explores how other developed countries, such as Australia, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland, insure natural catastrophes. It concludes by seeking to transform the insurance Copyright © 2020 Christopher C. French. Christopher C. French is a Professor of Practice at Penn State Law; J.D., Harvard Law School; B.A., Columbia University. The author gratefully acknowledges the legal research contributions of Amber Morris and Taylor Stark to this Article. The author also thanks Lara Fowler, Max Helveston, Rachel Herder, Ben Johnson, Jud Mathews, Adam Muchmore, Anya Prince, Dara Purvis, Victor Romero, Dan Schwarcz, Steve Ross, Jeff Stempel, Mark Storslee, Sam Thompson, and Jeff Thomas, as well as the participants in the Insurance Law section of the 2020 annual AALS conference, for providing thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of the Article. The author is also grateful to Penn State Law for hosting a workshop in which a draft of the article was discussed. 817

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