RMS Wildfire Hazard Data Provides Insight Into Recent California Wildfire Activity

Newark, CA - Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, has applied its RMS® Wildfire Hazard Data to analyze recent fires that have burned almost twice as much area as the five-year average for the same time period. The RMS data was released prior to the 2006 California fire season to help the re/insurance industry manage exposure to California wildfire risk.

According to RMS, California fires of this season, the Sawtooth Complex and the Millard Complex fires that spread through San Bernardino County in July, provide a snapshot of the value of the RMS® Wildfire Hazard Data. Together these fires burned 86,000 acres, mainly in areas that the RMS data identified as having moderate, high, and very high hazard values. Furthermore, the majority of 2006 fires in or near wildland zones began in and spread across areas identified as moderate or greater hazard areas. The model performance reflects its consideration of surface fuel, local weather conditions influencing fuel moisture, and correlation of risk between adjacent cells via potential fire spread, adds RMS.

The RMS® Wildfire Hazard Data is a suite of wildfire assessment tools that provide an integrated solution to help agents, brokers, insurers, and reinsurers identify locations exposed to wildfire risk, according to RMS. The RMS® Wildfire Hazard Data is accessible through the RiskLink® and RiskBrowser® catastrophe modeling platforms, and is available in the newest version of the RiskSearch® online property risk service.

SOURCE: Risk Management Solutions