Preparing for this centuries-old risk is more critical now than ever in Canada

Wildfires have impacted Canada for thousands of years and until 2003, insured losses from these events remained relatively low. Since that fateful year however, when a fire in Kelowna, BC led to $254 million (in today’s dollars) in insurance payouts, losses from wildfires have been rising sharply, according to a new report from the Swiss Re Institute, Wildfire in Canada: Fostering Resilience. “Wildfire risk is an emerging risk, meaning that while it’s always been around, it’s becoming much more relevant for society. I think that’s true for many countries, but also Canada,” said Balz Grollimund (pictured), head of the treaty underwriting team for Canada and English Caribbean at Swiss Re. “We’ve seen [that] in the last few years, especially Fort McMurray in 2016, [which] has shown us that wildfires are not just something that happens eventually and creates some local damage. It can really create significant impact to communities.” While wildfires occur annually, their number, severity, and the size of the burned area vary widely from year to year. In Canada, forests are spread across 350 million hectares of the country, in addition to 50 million hectares of non-forest wooded or tree-covered land, according to Swiss Re.