Slide show: The wildland-urban interface is growing and wildfires are causing cause more damage. Land use planning is an important solution.
Homes & Risk
Wildfires destroy thousands of structures each year
Explore the number of structures destroyed in each state by wildfire. Structures lost—rather than acres burned—provides a more complete measure of the broad impacts of wildfire.
Montana wildfire risk is widespread and growing
The number of western Montana homes in areas with high wildfire hazard has doubled, outpacing development rates in areas with low wildfire hazard.
Building for Wildfire Summit: Understanding How Homes Burn
Video and highlights from an event that brought together diverse community leaders to explore practices for building fire-adapted communities.
Communities utilize land use planning to reduce wildfire risks and costs
Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW) is helping communities reduce wildfire risks and costs. Four new communities join 26 others this coming year.
Building a Wildfire-Resistant Home: Codes and Costs
A new home built to wildfire-resistant codes can be constructed for roughly the same cost as a typical home.
San Luis Valley Wildfire Risk
Explore interactive maps of watersheds, wildfire, and the wildland-urban interface in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
Wildfire, Watersheds, and the Wildland-Urban Interface in the San Luis Valley
Partners in Colorado’s San Luis Valley are working to better understand the impacts of wildfire to communities, watersheds, and quality of life.
Austin Wildfire and Vulnerable Populations Tool
Identify neighborhoods where overlapping wildfire threats and socioeconomic vulnerabilities may make people disproportionately susceptible to wildfire.
New Montana Homes Increase Wildfire Risks
The number of western Montana homes in areas with high wildfire hazard has doubled, outpacing development rates in areas with low wildfire hazard.
Full Community Costs of Wildfire
Almost half of the full community costs of wildfire are paid for at the local level, including homeowners, businesses, and government agencies.
Communities Threatened by Wildfires, 2000-2017
Explore all communities threatened by wildfires from 2000 to 2017.
Communities Threatened by Wildfire, 2000-2017: Sortable Table
The sortable table identifies frequently threatened towns and cities, including the different sizes and distances of wildfires from nearby communities.
Assessing Wildfire and Populations at Risk
A new tool helps the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico assess wildfire and populations at risk.
Resilient Taos County: Living with Wildfire
This story map provides Taos County residents with information about the ecological role of fire, the region’s wildfire risk, forest restoration projects, and emergency preparedness.
Tennessee Wildfires: Now Is the Time to Plan
The wildfires that burned the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park devastated nearby communities and underscore the need to reduce the risks and costs of future catastrophic events.
Identifying Communities at Risk to Wildfire
Mapping and understanding communities at risk from wildfires just became easier with a new interactive tool generated by Headwaters Economics.
Summary: Wildfire Costs, New Development, and Rising Temperatures
This summary highlights the major research Headwaters Economics has conducted concerning controlling fire suppression costs, state case studies, and the growth of homes in the WUI.
Land Use Planning to Reduce Wildfire Risk
Case studies show how five urban areas in the West are using innovative land use planning tools to adapt to the increasing risks from wildfires.
Home Construction in the High Divide
The High Divide region, recognized as one of the most intact biological areas in the lower 48 states, is attracting many new residents and home construction is changing the landscape.