NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - 66

Wildfire by Lucian Deaton

THE VIEW
FROM NFPA'S
WILDFIRE DIVISION

New Fires, Old Assumptions
WE NEED TO CHALLENGE WILDFIRE'S ORTHODOXIES IF WE WANT TO HAVE ANY
HOPE OF ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM. HEREWITH, TWO GOOD PLACES TO START.

he October wildfires in
adjust accordingly. This new mindset
Northern California, the
could lead us to build more fire-resismost destructive in terms
tant housing, adopt smarter land-use
of structures burned in
practices, and put fewer firefighters in
state history, provide
harm's way. In other countries, wildland
plenty of fodder for reflection. According
firefighters do not even carry burn-over
to the California Insurance Commissioner,
fire shelters because they would never be
more than 4,700 residential properties
deployed, at least in theory, in situations
were destroyed in the blazes-including
where they would need one.
five percent of the homes in the city of
Santa Rosa-and another 10,000 resiWe need to reassess the wildfire risk faced
dences were damaged, according to the
by urban and suburban communities.
Los Angeles Times. The state's insurance
Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood
commissioner expects total losses to push
was not designated as a high-risk area
Before we rush
beyond $3 billion. Tragically, the fire also
on the city's wildfire risk maps, and thus
to find answers,
killed more than 40 people, many as they
was not subject to regulations that make
we should pause to
tried to escape. In the days and weeks that
buildings more fire resistant. So a lot of
consider whether
followed, media and policy wonks pitched
people were surprised when more than
we're even asking
blame and churned out neat solutions to
1,000 homes in the neighborhood were
the right questions.
our wildfire problem. Articles pointed
destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in October.
to climate change, building practices,
As one resident told the Los Angeles
suppression capability, dispatch center
Times, "We live in a subdivision in the
"failures," emergency communication limmiddle of freaking Santa Rosa."
itations, forest management, and more.
That may be, but wildfire's dynamics
We understandably want quick answers and clear solutions mean that, if you live in a fire-prone area, fire will eventually
so we can feel whole again. But before we rush to find answers, find you, whether you reside in a subdivision or a cabin in the
we should pause to consider whether we're even asking the right woods. The "very severe" zone was five miles away, but that
questions. While there are plenty of areas worthy of serious didn't matter to the embers that showered into Coffey Park
thought, I'll offer two places to start.
and sparked an urban conflagration. Our maps may be right
in predicting the odds of where a fire might burn, but we need
We need to adjust our expectation that every wildfire can be
to do a better job of explaining them to the entire community.
extinguished.
Residents need to understand that just because they don't live
Across the nation, we extinguish 98 percent of wildfire igni- in a high-risk area doesn't mean there's no risk. As Santa Rosa
tions in their initial stages, a feat mainly accomplished by local and many other communities can attest, "urban" does not equal
fire departments. The remaining two percent overwhelm that safe. It simply suggests another type of human environment
response and become the fires we see in the news.
that can be threatened, and destroyed, by wildfire.
The usual knee-jerk solution to these bigger wildfires is to say
Challenging presumed orthodoxies like these is important if
that we should increase our suppression capabilities. But Cali- we hope to change anything in how we coexist with wildfire.
fornia's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection already has The least we can do is ensure we aren't fighting the next wildfire
more air resources than most nations, as well as a highly capa- with old assumptions.
ble staff. Perhaps it's time we admit the reality that suppression
capabilities will never be adequate to control every fire, and LUCIAN DEATON is a project manager in NFPA's Wildfire Division.

66 | NFPA JOURNAL * J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8

MICHAEL HOEWELER

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2018