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Rocky Mountain Insurance Information
NEWS
6565 South Dayton St. #2400, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111
Serving Colorado, New Mexico, Utah & Wyoming
Contact: Carole Walker, Executive Director
(303) 790-0216 or 1-800-355-9524
Release Date: Immediately
Topic: Catastrophes
THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY ESTIMATES COLORADO WILDFIRES COST APPROXIMATELY $18.5 MILLION IN INSURED DAMAGE.
June 20, 2000 - Based on the some 600 claims filed so far, the insurance industry estimates the Hi Meadow and Bobcat wildfires that devastated dozens of mountain homes in Colorado will cost approximately $18.5 million in insured damage. This is a preliminary estimate that may change as more of the claims the property/casualty insurance industry expects to handle continue to come in.
The $18.5 million estimate includes damage to structures; personal belongings; automobiles; smoke damage; damage caused by firefighting efforts (i.e. slurry drops, water damage, etc.); and additional living expenses paid out to residents during evacuations. Carole Walker, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association says that the damage caused by a localized event like a wildfire or tornado often doesn't result in as much insured damage as a widespread hail storm. "The devastation to individual homeowners is much greater," says Walker, "when you compare losing everything you own to hail damage, there's no comparison. However, from an insured loss standpoint, most hail storms in Colorado are much more expensive."
Since Colorado gets pummeled with more damaging hail than almost anywhere else on earth, all of Colorado's seven most costly catastrophes were hailstorms and occurred in the Denver-metro area (which makes sense, because that's where the largest concentration of property in the state is located):
- $625 million in insured damage occurred on July 11, 1990. (NOTE *this year is the 10 th anniversary )
- $276.7 million in insured damage occurred from June 13-14, 1984.
- $225 million in insured damage occurred on October 1, 1994.
- $128 million in insured damage occurred on August 11, 1997.
- $122 million in insured damage occurred on May 22, 1996.
- $100 million in insured damage occurred from May 30 - June 2, 1991.
- $87.8 million in insured damage occurred on October 16, 1998.
Nationally, the most expensive fire in terms of insured losses was the October 1991 Oakland Hills Fire, which caused $1.7 billion in damage (about $2 billion in today's dollars). Catastrophic fires account for 3% of insurance losses. That compares to 33% for hurricanes, 32% for tornadoes and 13% for earthquakes.
Policyholders should report their claims to their insurance professionals as soon as possible. For information on, filing a claim, protecting property from wildfire and selecting a repair company, consumers may call the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association at 1-800-355-9524 for advice and free brochures .
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Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association is a non-profit consumer information organization. Affiliated with the Insurance Information Institute, RMIIA has been serving consumers and the media since 1952.
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