Rise of the all-season wildfire hazard
Across the UK and Europe, fires during recent heatwaves have threatened major cities from Marseille in southern France and Spain's capital Madrid to Montenegro's Podgorica, Bursa in Turkey and even Edinburgh in Scotland.
These fires are indicative of rising urban exposures, as climate change and property development put more areas at risk.
But the threat is no longer just a summer phenomenon. Increasingly, wildfires in the northern hemisphere are occurring outside of the normal wildfire season. This shift suggests a changing dynamic where highly destructive wildfires can occur in any season of the year, not just in the summer months.
In January 2025, California saw significant devastation from intense and fast-moving wildfires in and around Los Angeles. The deadly blazes — fuelled by strong Santa Ana winds, coupled with a period of scarce rainfall and extremely dry vegetation — claimed as many as 30 lives, destroyed over 18,000 properties and burned over 56,834 acres (23,000 hectares).
Across Europe, a warm, dry start to spring sparked new records for wildfires across northwestern parts of the continent, including in the UK, where there were fires in Ireland, Scotland and Cumbria. April fire emissions in the UK were the second highest since 2003, according to climate monitoring service Copernicus.1
The combination of a warming world, changing land use and urbanisation is causing more severe losses in regions around the world, both areas that have been historically prone to the peril as well as areas that have had little or no prior exposure.
"Seeing such significant fires during winter is certainly abnormal," says Chief Science Officer Steve Bowen, Gallagher Re. "We're facing a new reality regarding the seasonality of wildfires."
With traditional markers for wildfire seasons becoming less applicable, communities must address wildfires as a year-round risk. The evolving nature of the threat, with events increasing in frequency and severity, has resulted in larger economic losses and higher insurance costs.
As the insurance industry reevaluates its appetite for wildfire risk, businesses are looking at how they can better protect their people and property from losses.
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We're facing a new reality regarding the seasonality of wildfires.
Steve Bowen, chief science officer, Gallagher Re
Beyond direct losses: The rising secondary impacts of wildfires
The direct financial impact of such events on businesses and communities is significant, but there are also secondary impacts. These impacts include loss of attraction for tourism and hospitality businesses and prolonged business disruption for agricultural industries due to the impact on crops and livestock.
Meanwhile, power utilities face the prospect of physical damage to infrastructure, as well as potential liability for ignitions their equipment cause. Extreme heat and smoke also affect the stability of the grid and the ability of solar panels to generate power, potentially causing blackouts.
For businesses and communities, power outages disrupt daily operations. Investing in backup solutions can help mitigate the impact on business continuity.
Another ongoing concern in many cities is air pollution, with wildfires degrading overall air quality. Many countries, including the UK, have seen record smoke emissions during the 2025 season to date, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).
As both the frequency and severity of wildfires escalate, the extended impacts across society underscore the need for comprehensive strategies to mitigate risks and enhance recovery efforts.
Addressing these challenges requires understanding the root causes of wildfire losses and collaborating across sectors to develop innovative solutions that safeguard communities and businesses.
Climate change and urban sprawl: Key drivers of wildfire loss
Weather whiplash
Weather whiplash describes the phenomenon whereby very wet periods, which promote rapid vegetation growth, are followed by very dry periods. This growth increases the amount of dry vegetation available to fuel the spread of the fire.
Masses of dry vegetation, combined with strong winds, allow wildfires to spread quickly — up to 20 mph in optimal conditions. Sloping terrain also plays a factor, with fires tending to spread uphill.
A wildfire that engulfed France's Aude region in August 2025 spread quickly to engulf an area larger than Paris, aided by strong winds, becoming the country's largest wildfire in decades.2
Wildland-urban interface
While fire remains a significant threat for rural areas, urban fires are also rising considerably due to the impact of urbanisation and more frequent and severe wildfires.
As seen in many European cities this summer, fires that begin in wildland-urban interface (WUI) — where urban development and wilderness mingle — are increasingly crossing over into urban areas, impacting entire communities in the process.
"We're essentially racing against the hazard," says Ian Giammanco, managing director of Standards and Data Analytics at Business & Home Security (IBHS) in the US. "Some of the issues we're facing have developed over multiple generations."
As wildfire claims rise, insurers aim for better risk assessment
Insurance providers' appetite for catastrophe risk has been more constrained in recent years, leading to higher pricing. This pricing, combined with shifting reinsurer appetite and the impact of inflation on claims and reconstruction, has driven affordability and availability challenges.
Underwriters are taking steps to better control their wildfire exposure by seeking more detailed, granular property risk information based on construction, occupancy, protection measures and exposure levels.
Insurers increasingly turn to third-party risk scoring tools to assess, price and manage wildfire exposures. However, catastrophe modelling for wildfire risks is in its relative infancy, and insurers will take time to fully embrace modelled outputs when determining risk-based pricing.
Improving resistance to wildfires at a property and community level
Typical measures to improve a building's wildfire resilience — often referred to as 'home hardening' — include using fire-resistant roofing materials such as clay tiles; replacing flammable siding with brick or concrete; creating a minimum five-foot defensible perimeter; clearing brush around the property; and removing wooden fences close to buildings.
In the US, the IBHS 'wildfire-prepared home' concept outlines a base-level standard for wildfire-resistant construction.
"Resiliency for wildfire-prepared neighbourhoods and homes should be pushed to a medium level to gain some benefits, but it's important to recognise that you need to meet a specific threshold," says Faraz Hedayati, lead research engineer at IBHS. "You cannot simply pick and choose which mitigation measures to implement."
Lahaina's 'miracle house' shows benefits and limitations of wildfire resistance measures
In the aftermath of the devastating blaze in Maui, Hawaii, in 2023, media coverage featured a red-roofed house in Lahaina that appeared to have escaped the destruction unscathed. The owners' home hardening efforts were credited with greatly improving the building's wildfire resilience.
The IBHS conducted on-site assessments after both events, and according to Hedayati, the true story behind the survival of the Lahaina house is more nuanced.
The mitigating factors implemented by the homeowner — replacing the roof with wildfire-resistant materials and a three-foot defensible space around the property — helped to reduce the damage to the building. However, the house sustained north-side damage due to its proximity to a neighbouring structure and a tree, both of which caught fire.
"There were many people and news stories that tried to portray that house in a way that was not really realistic," says Hedayati. "Some, but not all, of the elements that we require to reduce the vulnerability were in place."
"The homeowner had changed the roof and created a zero-to-three-foot space around the property due to termite issues. But the northern side of the structure had some level of damage because of proximity to a tree and a neighbouring structure, which was burned up."
"A building is only as strong as its weakest part. With wildfires as chaotic as they are, leaving gaps by aiming for medium resiliency means gambling with failure. You might see some benefit, but it may not be enough," he adds.
Role of community planning in wildfire resilience
Land management and intentional use of fire play crucial roles in wildfire management. Controlled burns set by firefighters can aid wildfire suppression by clearing brush and reducing the available fuel load for unexpected ignitions.
As more people move into the WUI, however, authorities are looking more closely at where properties are being built and prioritising community planning with wildfire risk in mind. Rebuilding properties in accordance with contemporary codes should make communities more resilient in the future.
High-risk areas will continue to pose a challenge. While urban centres have highly skilled and trained firefighters, other parts of the country rely heavily on volunteer firefighters.
With the wildfire threat increasing outside of the traditional season and regions, these rural fire services could face extreme events that they lack the personnel and training to properly combat.
"With heavy fire damage also observed in parts of Europe, Asia and Australia recently, this calls for a global response and collaboration to enhance fire suppression efforts," says Gallagher Re's Steve Bowen.
Business and commercial building preparedness can mitigate wildfire risks
Just as communities threatened by wildfires are implementing resilience measures, businesses need to explore what mitigations are required to protect their bottom line against property and business interruption losses.
These mitigations include proactive fuel management, such as clearing undergrowth, trimming and thinning trees, creating a defensive space around properties and integrating fire-resistant building materials into roofing and cladding. In addition, maintaining roads and other access routes enables emergency services to access affected areas more easily.
Improving the resilience of larger commercial spaces, like big-box retailers or manufacturing facilities, can be more complex. According to IBHS's Hedayati, they often have specific vulnerabilities, such as vehicle loading docks, which can allow fire embers to enter the building without proper mitigation, and large windows, which are more likely to fail under extreme temperatures.
Additionally, commercial buildings typically have trucks and cars parked nearby, which can increase the risk of ignition for structures, exacerbated by
EVs and EV charging units.For all businesses, regular education and awareness programmes on fire safety and up-to-date emergency plans, including details of evacuation routes, assembly points and communication channels, are essential to keep employees safe.
Businesses should also
test their continuity plans regularly, including emergency drills and close coordination with local fire departments to enhance the response time for tackling wildfire threats.
Collaboration among public and private actors and guided preparedness can benefit resilience building across sectors. Adequate and timely fire risk assessments can lead to a more efficient allocation of resources before, during and after wildfires, as well as more efficient mitigation measures that can drive losses down in time.
Communities, businesses and individuals can all contribute to building safer environments with individual actions, but strategic planning from experts can make a larger-scale difference. The insurance industry continues to play a crucial role, through insights, resources and expertise as it partners with clients in the public and private sectors to build resilience against wildfires.
"Engaging with local communities to promote sustainable land management and raising awareness about the consequences of our actions can make a significant difference. Let's remain hopeful and proactive," says Bowen.
"By working together to address these challenges, we can protect our environment and pave the way for positive change to ensure that we safeguard our planet for future generations."
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Published September 2025
