{"id":13474,"date":"2025-02-02T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=13474"},"modified":"2025-01-18T12:08:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T12:08:44","slug":"america-wildfires-destructive-courting-protecting-homes-february-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/america-wildfires-destructive-courting-protecting-homes-february-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"How America courted increasingly destructive wildfires \u2212 and what that means for protecting homes today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The Palisades Fire spreads near homes amid a powerful windstorm on Jan. 7, 2025.\n Mario Tama\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Justin Angle<\/a>, University of Montana<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

The fires burning in the Los Angeles area are a powerful example of why humans have learned to fear wildfire. Fires can level entire neighborhoods in an instant. They can destroy communities<\/a>, torch pristine forests and choke even faraway cities<\/a> with toxic smoke.<\/p>\n\n

Over a century of fire suppression efforts have conditioned Americans to expect wildland firefighters to snuff out fires quickly, even as people build homes deeper into landscapes that regularly burn. But as the LA fires show, and as journalist Nick Mott and I explored in our book \u201cThis Is Wildfire: How to Protect Your Home, Yourself, and Your Community in the Age of Heat<\/a>\u201d and 2021 podcast \u201cFireline<\/a>,\u201d this expectation and our society\u2019s relationship with wildfire need to change.<\/p>\n\n

Over time, extensive fire suppression, home construction in high fire-risk areas and climate change have set the stage for the increasingly destructive wildfires we see today.<\/p>\n\n

The legacy of fire suppression<\/h2>\n\n

The way the U.S. deals with wildfires today dates back to around 1910, when the Great Burn<\/a> torched about 3 million acres across Washington, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia. After watching the fire\u2019s swift and unstoppable spread, the fledgling U.S. Forest Service developed a military-style apparatus built to eradicate wildfire<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The U.S. got really good at putting out fires. So good that citizens grew to accept fire suppression as something the government simply does.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"A\n
\n A ranger and forest guard on fire patrol duty near Thompson Falls, Mont., in 1909.<\/span>\n Forest Service photo by W.J. Lubken<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Today, state, federal and private firefighters deploy across the country when fires break out, along with tankers, bulldozers, helicopters and planes. The Forest Service touts a record of snuffing out 98% of wildfires<\/a> before they burn 100 acres (40 hectares). <\/p>\n\n

One consequence in a place like Los Angeles is that when a wildfire enters an urban environment, the public expects it to be put out before it causes much damage. But the nation\u2019s wildland firefighting systems aren\u2019t designed for that. <\/p>\n\n

Wildland firefighting tactics, such as digging lines to stop a fire from spreading and steering fires toward natural fuel breaks, don\u2019t work in dense neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades. Aerial water and retardant drops can\u2019t happen when high winds make it unsafe to fly. At the same time, the region\u2019s municipal firefighting forces and water systems weren\u2019t designed for this sort of fire \u2013 a conflagration engulfing entire neighborhoods quickly overwhelms the system.<\/p>\n\n

Long ago, Southern California\u2019s scrub-forest ecosystems would periodically burn, limiting fuel for future fires. But aggressive fire suppression and inattention to urban overgrowth have left excessive, easy-to-ignite vegetation<\/a> in many areas. It\u2019s unclear, however, whether prescribed burning could have prevented this catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n

This is primarily a people problem. People have built more homes and cities in fire-prone areas<\/a> and done so with little regard for wildfire resilience. And the greenhouse gases released by decades of burning fossil fuels to run power plants, industries and vehicles have caused global temperatures to rise<\/a>, compounding the threat.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"An<\/a>\n
\n The wildland-urban interface starts on the edges of cities where homes are built closer to forests and grasslands.<\/span>\n Courtesy of Jessy Stevenson<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Climate change and wildfires<\/h2>\n\n

The relationship between climate and wildfire is fairly simple: Higher temperatures lead to more fire<\/a>. Higher temperatures increase moisture evaporation, drying out plants and soil and making them more likely to burn. When hot, dry winds are blowing<\/a>, a spark in an already dry area can quickly blow up into dangerous wildfire.<\/p>\n\n

Given the rise in global temperatures that the world has already experienced, much of the western U.S. is actually in a fire deficit<\/a> because of the practice of suppressing most fires. That means that, based on historical data, we should expect far more fire than we\u2019re actually seeing.<\/p>\n\n

Fortunately, there are things everyone can do to break this cycle.<\/p>\n\n