Since 8 November, two major wildfires in northern and southern California have caused significant property damage and 80 fatalities. About 46,000 people remain evacuated, and nearly 1,300 people are still missing. RMS, the catastrophe modelling company, has estimated the insured industry loss to be between USD 9bn and USD 13bn for the two fires, ‘Camp’ and ‘Woolsey’.
In northern California, the ongoing ‘Camp’ wildfire continues to break records as the most damaging wildfire in California’s recorded history. At the time of writing, at least 600km2 have been burned, 13,774 structures destroyed, and there are 77 confirmed fatalities. A further 14,500 additional structures are currently threatened. The fire is only 65% contained despite concerted firefighting efforts by thousands of personnel over the last ten days. RMS estimates the loss for this fire to be within the range of USD 7.5bn to USD 10.0bn.
In southern California, the ‘Woolsey’ fire near Los Angeles has burned an area of almost 400km2 and has destroyed 1,452 buildings. There have been three fatalities to date, and the fire is currently 91% contained. RMS estimates the loss to be within the range of USD 1.5bn to USD 3.0bn.
Twelve Capital is closely monitoring the events above and will issue updates as more information becomes available.
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