“Building materials themselves are lending them to more catastrophic losses,” said Jared Carillo, director of foundation accounts at SmithBrothers, an insurance brokerage in Connecticut. Materials used in construction today include more synthetics that burn faster and hotter, such as particleboard, spray foam and wire insulation, he said.Open floor plans are another culprit, Mr. Carillo said: “A fire that starts in the kitchen is going to generate more loss across the first floor.”Some of the weather changes being monitored by the insurance industry, such as the northerly drift of “Hurricane Alley,” are gradual shifts. Others — like the droughts that have exacerbated enormous wildfires in the Western United States — have hit an inflection point much …
