Will the insurers funds go up to smoke? Near Marseille, a fire broke out on Tuesday, July 8 and has already burned more than 750 hectares. At the moment, damage to infrastructure or homes should not be deplored. But in case of damage, insurance companies will have to pay compensation.
This was the case during Los Angeles mortal fires last January, which destroyed more than 10,000 houses and damaged more than 2,000 buildings. The insurers’ bill had exploded. The amount is estimated between $ 10 and $ 15 billion for insured goods, according to a study by the Standard and Poor’s qualification agency. Therefore, it could address the $ 16 billion record established in 2017 by the TubBs fire in northern California, S&P said in his note.
Costs multiplied by 6 in 2000 and 2010
But the general cost of fires is difficult to encrypt insurers. In 2022, the damage caused by forest fires in Europe cost 2 billion euros, according to the European Commissioner for the management of the crisis Janez Lenarčič. That year he had been one of the worst years in terms of burned surfaces since the beginning of the statements in 2006, with at least 800,000 hectares burned throughout the EU.
The situation will not improve because with global warming, heat episodes will intensify and multiply. Therefore, the number of fires can explode, which contains them will be increasingly difficult and can damage the goods. According to a study by Commercial Allianz in June 2025, cited by FigaroThe cost “losses of the insured world linked to forest fires” have multiplied for six in ten years, from $ 8.7 billion in the 2000s to 56.3 billion in the 2010.
Climate risks cost 5 billion in 2024 in France
However, fire risk is not the most expensive for insurers. The cost of natural events in France in 2024 reaches 5 billion euros, which makes this year the ninth most expensive for the profession, according to the insurers of France. In detail, storms, hail and snow cost insurers 2.2 billion euros, natural disasters weighed for two billion and 800 million harvest insurance. The prospects of the insurers of France anticipate the generalized growth of risks, frequently as in gravity.
In the United States, Hurricane Helene and Milton cost around $ 50 billion to insurers and floods in Europe 10 billion dollars, according to the insurers of France.
Source: BFM TV
