How risk management can prevent future wildfire disasters in the wildland-urban interface

Recentfire seasons in the western United States are some of the most damaging andcostly on record. Wildfires in the wildland-urban interface on the ColoradoFront Range, resulting in thousands of homes burned and civilian fatalities,although devastating, are not without historical reference. These fires areconsistent with the characteristics of large, damaging, interface fires that threatencommunities across much of the western United States. Wildfires are inevitable,but the destruction of homes, ecosystems, and lives is not. We propose theprinciples of risk analysis to provide land management agencies, firstresponders, and affected communities who face the inevitability of wildfiresthe ability to reduce the potential for loss. Overcoming perceptions ofwildland-urban interface fire disasters as a wildfire control problem rather thana home ignition problem, determined by home ignition conditions, will reducehome loss.