Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risk

TLDR

Housing built near forests increases wildfire frequency from human ignitions and heightens risk to life, property, and firefighting effectiveness. The study quantified U.S. housing growth in the wildland‑urban interface since 1990, revealing a substantial increase in homes adjacent to natural vegetation.

Abstract

Significance When houses are built close to forests or other types of natural vegetation, they pose two problems related to wildfires. First, there will be more wildfires due to human ignitions. Second, wildfires that occur will pose a greater risk to lives and homes, they will be hard to fight, and letting natural fires burn becomes impossible. We examined the number of houses that have been built since 1990 in the United States in or near natural vegetation, in an area known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI), and found that a large number of houses have been built there. Approximately one in three houses and one in ten hectares are now in the WUI. These WUI growth trends will exacerbate wildfire problems in the future.