…The number of people living in fire-prone areas has grown dramatically — 250,000 Coloradans have moved to the “red zone” in the past two decades. And this is likely to grow in the years ahead: If you look at all the private land out West that sits near forest areas and is prone to wildfires, Gorte notes, only about 16 percent of it is developed. So there’s a lot of room for growth…
And Gorte notes that certain policies appear to provide perverse incentives for building in these areas. State and local governments are mostly in charge of deciding whether to develop this land. Yet the federal government picks up the biggest chunk of the tab for fire suppression and protection — now spending about $3 billion per year. In essence, homeowners have been building in fire zones and counting on taxpayers to protect them.