The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has launched two new tools to enhance awareness and preparedness for Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fires according to a post on the U.S. Fire Administration website. WUI areas are increasingly under scrutiny due to the challenges posed by wildfires, including new building developments, climate change, and the rising number of structures destroyed and areas burned annually.
Several devastating fire disasters in the last decade highlight the urgent need for heightened awareness and preparedness. In August 2023, the wildfire-initiated urban conflagration in Lahaina, Hawaii, damaged or destroyed more than 2,200 structures and claimed 98 lives. Similarly, the Almeda Drive Fire in September 2020 ravaged the communities of Talent and Phoenix, Oregon, destroying 2,600 homes and resulting in three fatalities. Despite these stark examples, roughly 99 million people—about a third of the U.S. population—live in WUI environments, often unaware of the inherent dangers.
Creating fire-adapted communities remains a key priority in the national fire safety, prevention, and control policy in the United States. Effective and comprehensive, data-informed community risk reduction programs and mitigations are essential at the local level to address the increased fire risks faced by WUI communities.
To support local fire services and communities, the USFA has developed two WUI fire awareness tools: the WUI Fire Property Awareness Explorer and the WUI Fire Community Awareness Explorer. These tools aim to raise awareness about the existence and potential fire susceptibility of WUI areas across the United States. They enable local fire service and community stakeholders to apply consistent data in community risk reduction, code adoption and enforcement, mitigation, and planning efforts.
The tools are not designed to measure or convey specific risk levels but to provide information about the location of WUI areas and their potential susceptibility to fire relative to wildfire hazard exposure. The WUI Fire Property Awareness Explorer helps residents understand their proximity to WUI and fire-prone areas, serving as the starting point for individuals to take action in preparing for and mitigating fire risks at the resident and property levels.
The fire service and community stakeholders are encouraged to use these new WUI fire awareness tools to identify locations in their communities where mitigation and risk reduction efforts should be focused. By doing so, they can work towards building more resilient, fire-adapted communities, better prepared to face the growing threat of wildfires.