Neighborhoods connect homes to regions — and fire doesn’t stop at property lines.
Identifying Problems
Built-Up Vegetation
-Decades of fire suppression have allowed vegetation to accumulate unnaturally, creating dense layers of dry fuels. This fuel buildup ignites easily and burns intensely, allowing fires to move quickly.
2. Soil Suppression From Prescribed Fires
-In areas where prescribed burns have been excluded, organic material like leaf litter and dead roots accumulates in the soil. These suppressed soils act as hidden fuel beds that ignite easily and burn intensely, contributing to underground smoldering.
3. Combustible Hardscapes And Utilities
-Common features like wooden fences, sheds, and unprotected power lines act as fire conduits. When ignited, they can transfer flames directly to homes when connected to structures or placed near vegetation.
4. Hotter, Drier Climate
-Climate change has intensified fire seasons by increasing temperatures, reducing humidity, and extending droughts. These conditions dry out vegetation faster and make it more flammable, creating fast-moving wildfires.
5. Wind Driven Ember Attacks
-Neighborhoods located in the WUI are especially vulnerable to ember attacks. When embers bombard flammable homes and landscapes under high wind conditions, multiple structures can ignite nearly simultaneously, overwhelming firefighting resources and accelerating destruction.
Neighborhood Strategies
Firebreak
Firebreaks create a critical barrier between wildlands and neighborhoods by removing vegetation and combustible materials, preventing fires from spreading rapidly toward homes.
By physically interrupting the continuity of fuels, firebreaks slow or stop the advance of wildfires, providing firefighters with defensible space to protect communities.
Emergency Access
Proper roadway design enhances fire resiliency by ensuring that emergency vehicles can quickly access and defend neighborhoods while providing residents with safe evacuation routes.
Wide roads, multiple access points, and cleared vegetation along roadways help prevent bottlenecks during evacuations and improve the speed and efficiency of firefighting operations.
Utility Planning
Strategic utility line planning reduces fire ignition risks by minimizing the chances of electrical infrastructure sparking fires, especially during high wind conditions.
Burying power lines or using fire-resistant poles, combined with regular vegetation clearance around utilities, strengthens the resilience of communities by addressing a major source of wildfire ignitions in WUI areas.