PCS: July fires in Washington state not a cat event from insured-loss perspective

The July wildfire events in the state of Washington, including the Carlton Complex Fire, will not rise to the level of a catastrophe event—defined by Property Claim Services as $25 million or more in insured losses.

In a blog post Wednesday, Ted Gregory, manager, PCS, said the affected areas included “high rates of uninsured homes,” meaning while economic losses are high, insured losses are low.

He said that claim volume has been minimal, and there was little damage to commercial and government structures.

On top of that, Gregory said each fire was a separate event, meaning each one would have to meet PCS' definition of a catastrophe.

Asked what played a bigger role in the fires not rising to the level of a catastrophe event: the number of uninsured structures, or the events being considered separately, Gregory said, “all of the above.” 

He noted that in addition to meeting the $25 million threshold, PCS considers whether a significant number of carriers were impacted by an event, and that was not the case even for the Carlton Complex Fire, which was the largest fire in the state's history.