headw

Likewise, “assuming a firefighter can protect our home is no longer a safe or responsible expectation to have,” says Kimiko Barrett, a wildfire resilience researcher at Headwaters Economics, an independent, nonpartisan research group.

Kimiko Barrett of Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Montana, who worked with counties in the state to secure Community Wildfire Defense Grants, said grant recipients were told Monday that payments had been paused for at least 10 days.

“Coming out of Los Angeles, we have learned that this is a crisis involving very specific risk reduction efforts,” Barrett said. “Without this program communities will not have the tools to continue the very important mitigation work that’s needed.”

“If your neighbor doesn’t do anything, and you do, if that home burns it will create so much radiant heat, yours will burn too,” said Kimiko Barrett of Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Mont., a company that advises cities on reducing wildfire damage risk. Neighbors matter.

Kimiko Barrett, senior wildfire research and policy analyst at the research institute Headwaters Economics, said there are three ways homes ignite during a wildfire: direct flame contact from the fire front, radiant heat from nearby items catching fire, or ember exposure.

Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Kimiko Barrett, senior wildfire researcher and policy analyst at the research group Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Montana; and Dr. Alexandra Syphard, senior research scientist at the Conservation Biology Institute in San Diego, California.