US Buildings Lost to Wildfires Could Triple By 2060

Filed by Terra Bloom

A sobering new study published in Nature Communications projects that the number of buildings across the contiguous United States threatened by wildfire could nearly triple by 2060. The researchers attribute the surge to three overlapping drivers: continued climate change that dries out landscapes, decades of forest mismanagement that leaves too much fuel on the ground, and the persistent practice of building homes in areas where large fires naturally occur. The findings suggest that without serious policy shifts, millions more structures will sit in harm's way, with profound costs for communities, insurers and the federal budget.

Terra Bloom

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The tripling number is the headline, but the part that sticks with me is that two of the three drivers are choices we keep making. Climate change is hard to reverse quickly, but we have direct control over where we approve new subdivisions and how we manage the forests around them. The study basically says we can keep stacking firewood and then act surprised when it burns.

I'd want to know more about which states and regions carry the heaviest burden, because the West usually dominates this conversation, yet the Southeast has its own serious fire exposure. The policy answer can't just be more firefighting. It has to involve zoning, insurance reform, and letting some fires burn where they're safe.

We've known for years that building in fire-prone landscapes is a bad bet. This paper just puts a sharper date on the bill. The question is whether local governments will make the hard calls before the fires force them to.

📌 Read the real article ↗via Inside Climate News · Inside Climate News

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