The recent blaze that destroyed much of Altadena, California was an urban fire ignited by wind-driven embers. Photo by George Wuerthner
A new report from Headwaters Economics concludes that 1,100 communities scattered across the country are vulnerable to urban wildfires, such as the recent Altadena and Pacific Palisades blazes in California.
While the origins of these blazes were on public lands, wind-tossed embers soon ignited homes, setting up an uncontrollable chain reaction in which one burning home ignited adjacent homes, which overwhelmed firefighting capabilities.
While most people tend to believe wildfire risk is greatest in the West, the new analysis concluded that 52% of the communities vulnerable to such blazes are outside the West, with Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama having some of the highest risk of urban blazes.
One interesting statistic that calls into question current Forest Service policies of extensive logging as a measure to protect communities is that many of the most destructive wildfires have occurred in non-forested areas with shrubs or grasslands. The Marshall Fire in Colorado, the Maui Fire in Hawaii, the Smokehouse Fire in Texas, and many of the recent blazes in California were all ignited in non-forested vegetation.
The majority of acreage burning today is in non-forested landscapes like grasslands, sagebrush, chaparral, and other plant communities. A wildfire that burned through sagebrush in southern Idaho, where a “fire break” failed to halt the fire spread. Photo by George Wuerthner
A recent analysis found that the annual burned area was higher on non-forest lands than on forest lands for 14 out of the past 21 years across the conterminous U.S. The total burned area in non-forests was 18,412,462 ha, and for forest lands, it was 15,536,655 ha.
Florida, in particular, is very at risk due to frequent droughts and some of the highest lightning strikes in the country.
Of course, the continued construction of homes in areas with high fire risk is a contributing factor to urban wildfire risk.
You can look up individual community risk here.
As fire researcher Jack Cohen has repeatedly said, “Uncontrollable extreme wildfires are inevitable. ” Five years ago, he wrote, “However, by reducing home ignition potential … we can create ignition-resistant homes and communities.”
The threat of urban wildfire again emphasizes the importance of home hardening. Working from the home outward, treating the area immediately around the house can significantly reduce the vulnerability to wildfire.
Given that climate warming is propelling the increase in wildfires, with 2024 the warmest in recent history, we must begin to rethink home construction. Replacing wood with steel, brick, rock, cement and other non-flammable materials can also reduce home flammability.
Builder Mike Roddy has written to me numerous times advocating for a transition to non-flammable materials. He writes:“ I’m a retired builder specializing in light gauge steel framing. “In addition to metal, we avoid flammable materials, such as lumber, flammable insulation, wood soffits, and plywood.” Roddy says wood framing is illegal in many parts of Europe.
The conclusions are clear: unless we make significant changes in our home construction, address climate warming, and reduce building structures in fire-prone landscapes, we will inevitably see more urban fire disasters like Altadena and Pacific Palisades. The sad part of all this is that it doesn’t have to be this way if communities work to expedite fire-safe practices.
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