Nation must adapt to greater wildfire risk
Climate change means people must prepare for more fire danger, including – surprise – US East.
from the November 1, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
The team looked at 2000 census data and found that 44,348,628 homes – nearly 39 percent of all the housing units in the lower 48 states – were built along the wildland-urban interface. In some cases, these were single homes built on large tracts of forest or grassland. In other cases, they represented dense developments that bordered extended wild areas, such as national forests.
Agencies pool efforts to identify 'fire-wise' practices
The results were amazing, Radeloff says. "Because the West has the drought, most of the discussions about the wildland-urban interface focused on those states," he says. "But when we look at absolute numbers, there is much more wildland-urban interface in the East than in the West. That came as a major surprise to us."
Combined with the projected effects of global warming on the eastern forests, this came as potentially troubling news. Little wonder, then, that several federal agencies and national associations have pooled their efforts to support "fire-wise" communities, spreading the word on what works and what doesn't to make homes and communities more resistant to fires.
The solutions, experts says, don't require rocket science. Good approaches are already out there. They just need to be applied more widely and consistently.
Mr. Smalley of the National Fire Prevention Association recalls a recent query he received from the US Government Accountability Office inquiring about new ways to reduce the risk of wildfires.
"They asked: 'What new technology can we look forward to?' I said there is no new technology that will help. It comes down to good building [techniques] and good clearance around each home."
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