# Inside the insurance industry’s destruction lab

- Source: Planet Money
- Published: 2026-11-06T22:30:00+00:00
- Category: Business
- Original: https://www.npr.org/2026/11/06/nx-s1-6032860/fire-insurance-industry-destruction-lab
- Canonical: https://groundlevelnews.com/story/inside-the-insurance-industry-s-destruction-lab-cca577/

When you think of someone burning down a house for insurance purposes, you don’t imagine it would ever be the insurance company itself lighting the match. But that’s essentially what’s happening inside a giant destruction laboratory, funded by the insurance industry, in the woods of South Carolina. Scientists and engineers there build household structures — from decks to sheds to single family hom

_Ground Level News shows a short summary only; the full article and all rights belong to Planet Money._