[ad_1]
In the U.S., more people are living in the possible path of wildfires today than did a few decades ago. The population exposed to large fires grew 125% from 2000 to 2019, according to a study published in July in the journal Nature Sustainability. That’s in part because development is expanding into wildlands with a history of fires, and in larger part because climate change makes conditions favorable to fires more likely.
“The number of dry, hot, windy days is increasing,” says Mojtaba Sadegh, co-author of the recent paper and an associate professor of civil engineering at Boise State University. “We call them recipes for megafires.”
The best way to change those ingredients is to cut carbon emissions. But the way a community is designed can impact how much a fire spreads and the amount of damage it does. “We can get rid of the disasters,” Sadegh says. “We can prevent the impact.”
Looking at lessons from past disastrous fires, here are steps that can help reduce fire risk at the home and community level.
Create a vegetation buffer
Whether a community abuts forest or grassland, wildfire and building experts recommend a vegetation-free layer between any wild landscape and the outskirts of town. “What you like is to create a buffer without fuel around the community so you can slow the fire down, at least, but hopefully stop it,” says Thomas Cova, a professor at the University of Utah’s geography department who studies wildfire evacuation. In the case of Lahaina, invasive grasses — fuel for fire — came right up to the edge of town. “They had fuel adjacent to the community, which gives the fire the ability to go straight into the community like a rocket,” Cova says.
Buffer zones can also help protect individual homes. “One of the real critical pieces is keeping fuel out of the five-foot zone around the house,” says Ian Giammanco, lead research meteorologist at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). “We call it the home ignition zone. In California, it’s referred to as zone zero.” Fuel can include vegetation, woodpiles or a kid’s plastic playset.
Increase the space between buildings
Spacing homes and other buildings at least 25 to 30 feet (roughly 8 meters) apart can help prevent the spread of fire. At this distance, it’s more difficult for flames from one building to jump to another, and for the radiant heat or embers coming off a burning home or business to extend to neighboring structures.
Tight building spacing likely contributed to the spread of the Maui wildfire. “When the structures are that close together and they start burning that high in the wind, it’s like each structure ignites the next structure or two structures away,” Cova says.
[ad_2]
Source link