Wildfires

Focus on Fire Safety

Wildfires

Preventative fire safety measures saved this home from a wildfire.

Preventative fire safety measures saved this home from a wildfire.

Total Wildland Fires and Acres Lost (1998 – 2007)

Year Fires Acres
2007 85,705 9,328,045
2006 96,385 9,873,745
2005 66,753 8,689,389
2004 65,461 8,097,880*
2003 63,629 3,960,842
2002 73,457 7,184,712
2001 84,079 3,570,911
2000 92,250 7,393,493
1999 92,487 5,626,093
1998 81,043 1,329,704

*2004 fires and acres do not include State lands for North Carolina

Source: National Interagency Coordination Center

Did you know?

The primary classes of wildland fires are surface, crown, and ground. Classes are determined by the types of fuels involved and the intensity of the fire.

Surface fires typically burn rapidly at a low intensity and consume light fuels while presenting little danger to mature trees and root systems.

Crown fires generally result from ground fires and occur in the upper sections of trees, which can cause embers and branches to fall and spread the fire.

Ground fires are the most infrequent type of fire and are very intense blazes that destroy all vegetation and organic matter, leaving only bare earth.

Fire Safe, Inside and Out

For more information on making your home "Fire Safe" inside and out, please visit these Web sites for tips and checklists:

More and more people are making their homes in woodland settings – in or near forests, rural areas, or remote mountain sites. There, homeowners enjoy the beauty of the environment but face the very real danger of wildfire.

Every year across our Nation some homes survive after a major wildfire while many others do not. Those that survive almost always do so because their owners had prepared for the eventuality of fire, which is an inescapable force of nature in fire-prone wildland areas.

Said in another way – if it's predictable, it's preventable!

Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI)

Americans are building homes in the wildland-urban interface – the zone where homes are intermixed with wildland vegetation. One study estimates that 44 million homes in the lower 48 states are located in areas that meet or intermingle with wildland vegetation¹. In the 1990s, 1.7 million new homes were built in the wildland-urban interface in California, Oregon, and Washington alone; bringing the total of homes contained in the WUI in these three states to nearly 7 million². The story is similar in the Rocky Mountain States of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. In these four States, during the same decade, the rate at which homes were being built in the WUI accelerated almost 23%³.

How Do Wildfires Begin?

Before Wildfire Threatens

Every year many families are evacuated and unnecessarily lose their homes and possessions to wildland fire. These losses can be minimized if homeowners take the time to become aware of safety measures to help protect their homes and complete some effective actions.

Fire Safe Outside:

Fire Safe Inside:

Fire Eyes: Interview with a WUI Home

A wildland-urban interface home.

A wildland-urban interface home.

Listen in as USFA interviews a wildland-urban interface home to see how well its owners have prepared it to withstand a wildfire.

Help

Download

When Wildfire Threatens

A home threatened by wildfire.

A home threatened by wildfire.

You have taken the necessary precautions, but wildfires still occur. What should you do when wildfire threatens?

Historically Significant Wildfires (1998 – 2007)

Year Size Name Area Details
2007 368,969 acres San Diego Wildfires, October/November 2007 CA Destroyed 2,591 structures
2007 363,052 acres Milford Flat Fire UT Largest fire on record in Utah
2007 108,754 acres Florida Bugaboo Fire FL Largest fire on record in Florida
2007 388,017 acres Big Turnaround Complex Fire GA Largest fire for the U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service outside of Alaska
2003 275,000 acres Cedar Fire CA 2,400 structures destroyed; 15 lives lost
2002 136,000 acres Hayman Fire in Pike National Forest CO 600 structures destroyed
2000 47,650 Cerro Grande NM Originally a prescribed fire; 235 structures destroyed; damaged Los Alamos National Laboratory
1998 111,130 Volusia Complex FL Thousands of people evacuated from several counties

Source: National Interagency Coordination Center, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Prepare for Wildfire Now!

Reduce your risk by preparing now – before wildfire strikes. Meet with your family to decide what to do and where to go if wildfires threaten your area. Follow the steps listed above to make your home fire safe inside and out, and to protect your family, home, and property.

1 "Mapping the Wildland-Urban Interface and Projecting its Growth to 2030." Stewart et al, Forest Ecology and Management, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jan. 2005.

2 "Wildland-Urban Interface Housing Growth during the 1990s in California, Oregon, and Washington." Hammer et al, International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2007.

3 Stewart et al, Jan. 2005.

4 "Natural History of Fire and Flood Cycles." Ainsworth, Jack and Doss, Troy Alan , University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995.

Publications – Download

Links of Interest