Western wildfires destroyed 246% more homes and buildings over the past decade – fire scientists explain what's changing

Jennifer Balch, Associate Professor of Geography and Director, Earth Lab, University of Colorado Boulder, Natasha Stavros, Director of the Earth Lab Analytics Hub, University of Colorado Boulder, Philip Higuera, Professor of Fire Ecology, University of Montana, and Maxwell Cook, Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Geography, University of Colorado Boulder, The Conversation on Feb 1, 2023

Published in Science & Technology News

Actions to reduce risk will vary, since how people live and how wildfires burn vary widely across the West.

States with large tracts of land with little development, like Idaho and Nevada, can accommodate widespread burning, largely from lighting ignition, with little structure loss.

California and Colorado, for example, require different approaches and priorities. Growing communities can carefully plan if and how they build in flammable landscapes, support wildfire management for risks and benefits, and improve firefighting efforts when wildfires do threaten communities.

Climate change remains the elephant in the room. Left unaddressed, warmer, drier conditions will exacerbate challenges of living with wildfires. And yet we can’t wait. Addressing climate change can be paired with reducing risks immediately to live more safely in an increasingly flammable West.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Philip Higuera receives funding from the federally funded Joint Fire Sciences Program, United States Geological Survey, and National Science Foundation.

Jennifer Balch receives funding from NSF, Deloitte, JFSP, OPP, and USGS.

Maxwell Cook receives funding from the federally funded Joint Fire Sciences Program and the Earth Lab at University of Colorado Boulder, and is a student member of the Ecological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.

Natasha Stavros receives funding from NSF, NASA, Southern California Edison, Deloitte, and AXA XL. She is affiliated with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, owns a company called WKID Solutions LLC and serves as a member on the Hazard Mitigation Enterprise Board for the Colorado State Emergency Response Program.