Western Wildfire Woes — And How to Avoid Them

The Black Forest Fire, seen in this photo by Chris Carruth, erupted north of Colorado Springs on June 11. Burning in an area where fire-prone forest and housing were intermixed, it went on to kill two people and destroy 486 homes before it was contained on June 20th. (Photo: © Chris Carruth) Sometimes statistics lie: Both the number of U.S. wildfires and acreage burned since Jan. 1 are trending well below the 10-year average. Those numbers are true, but they also lie because they don't tell the full story — which also includes 19 firefighters killed in Arizona's Yarnell Hill Fire, and two people dead plus 486 homes destroyed in Colorado's Black Forest Fire. That second set of statistics should jolt us into seeing things in a new light. And I'm hoping that the Q&A below by Christi Turner will help shine that light on a key issue raised by the human suffering we've already experienced this wildfire season: development in the fire-prone wildland-urban interface, or WUI. Turner is a talented graduate student in the environmental journalism program I direct at the University of Colorado. (Click here for her photography portfolio, which includes spectacular imagery of Madagascar.) Her interview with Ray Rasker, Executive Director of Headwaters Economics, appeared first in The Boulder Stand, an online environmental magazine published by our students. If you want to hear some practical ideas for taming wildfire risks, limiting development in the most fire-prone areas, and reining in the skyrocketing costs of fighting wildfires, I urge you to keep reading. Also, please check out Headwaters Economics for detailed, in-depth information, including their recent report on the rising cost of wildfire protection.