Demand Surge, Inflation To Increase Colorado Wildfire Losses

AM Best has warned that demand surge and inflation will amplify losses related to the December 30th, 2021, late-season Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado, which destroyed more than 1,000 structures.

The wildfire arrived at the end of last year and burned through roughly 6,000 acres over two days, and is set to become the costliest fire in Colorado’s history.

Figures from the Boulder Office of Disaster Management (ODM) put the number of structures destroyed by the fire at 1,091, with an additional 179 damaged, as of January 10th, 2022.

A few days earlier, when it was known that the fire had destroyed almost 1,000 structures, catastrophe risk modeller Karen Clark & Company pegged the insurance industry loss from the event at $1 billion, describing it as the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.