Wildfires have created instability within risk transfer markets. Here’s a path forward by Matthew P. Thompson, PNAS, 2025
“What was once largely thought of as a wildlands and wildfire management problem—leading to fire control as the solution—needs to be understood as one where fire is both natural and inevitable, and with a shifted focus to structural vulnerability and ignition resistance of communities.
“Reducing the risk of WU fires may take stricter measures: construction standards that increase cost, greater defensible space, improved emergency access through wider roadways, restricted or prohibited development in areas that are simply too hazardous to build upon, and even managed retreat.
“The Community Wildfire Defense Grant program, housed within the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, already provides grants directly to communities and local organizations for hazardous fuels reduction projects and to update Community Wildfire Protection Plans. This program could be expanded to include much needed support for home hardening, infrastructure improvements, and evacuation planning.”
“Wildland-urban fire disasters aren’t actually a wildfire problem” by David E. Calkin, Kimiko Barrett, Jack D. Cohen, Mark A. Finney, Stephen J. Pyne, Stephen L. Quarles, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2023
“The current wildfire management approach has inverted the wildfire problem. Wildland fires do not, per se, encroach on communities. Rather, it’s communities that have impinged on wildlands, where fires play an important ecological role.”
“The best way to make existing wildfire-vulnerable developments ignition resistant is to work within the limited area of the “home ignition zone”—a home and its surroundings within 100 feet (which may include neighboring homes). There are ways to reduce home ignition risk. Homeowners should install nonignitable roofing materials and flame- and ember-resistant vents; clean gutters of flammable debris; ensure that wooden steps, fences, and decks do not directly contact a home’s flammable materials; and remove flammable materials immediately surrounding buildings and under attached decks.”
“Defensible-space treatment of < 114,000 ha 40 m from high-risk buildings near wildland vegetation could reduce loss in WUI wildfire disasters across Colorado’s 27 million ha” by William L. Baker, Landscape Ecology, 2022
“Treating ≤ 114,084 ha of defensible space could leave the 27 million ha of Colorado with lower WUI wildfire disaster-risk to buildings. High risk of building loss is rarely a federal land-management problem. If the goal is rapid reduction of building loss in WUI wildfire disasters, focus resources on defensible space 20–40 m from WUI buildings within 100 m of wildland vegetation.”
“The Role of Defensible Space for Residential Structure Protection During Wildfires” by Alexandra D. Syphard, Teresa J. Brennan, Jon E. Keeley, International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2014
“The most effective treatment distance varied between 5 and 20 m (16–58 ft) from the structure, but distances larger than 30 m (100 ft) did not provide additional protection…”
“Land management practices associated with house loss in wildfires” by P. Gibbons P, et al., PLoS ONE, 2012
“Our results imply that a shift in emphasis away from broad-scale fuel-reduction to intensive fuel treatments close to property will more effectively mitigate impacts from wildfires on peri-urban communities.”
Eco-Integrity Alliance 