Analysis

Is wildfire risk an ‘underestimated’ peril spreading to the UK?

By 2026-03-12T08:00:00

rural fire

With the threat of wildfires spreading globally, industry experts tell Insurance Times what the risks are to properties in rural urban interfaces and HNW structures in the UK if the industry is unprepared

While Europe has not been as affected as the US, Judith Neumann, global head of industry advisory for sustainability and climate resilience at Guidewire, noted that wildfires have been gaining “more traction” across south Europe including the UK.

This can be seen no better than its impact last year. The Global Wildfire Information System estimated that by November 2025, UK wildfires had burned 116,204 acres, the largest annual area since monitoring began in 2012 and over double that of summer 2022.

As the records reflect, Neumann told Insurance Times that the issue is only expanding globally and there can be a lot to be learned from the behaviour of US wildfires on how to mitigate and respond to the risk.

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