The U.S. spends billions of dollars on wildfires every year. But a new report finds that measures more effective at protecting communities aren’t getting the support they need.
The analysis is a collaboration between Montana-based Headwaters Economics and Columbia University’s Climate School, and its title doesn’t mince words: Missing the Mark.
Fire suppression, it notes, has cost federal agencies an average of $2.8 billion in recent years, even though it can raise longer-term risk. More effective interventions – like prescribed fires, home hardening and building codes attune to wildfire risk – get far less support and face political headwinds.
“The American people need to understand that wildfire is part of this land, and that it is going to become worse, and that there are opportunities for us now to invest in these mitigation strategies so that we live and coexist with increasing fire,” co-author and Headwaters analyst Kimiko Barrett said.
The report calls for congressional support for programs that make at-risk homes more fire resistant. It also recommends federal campaigns to build support for managed and prescribed fire and the implementation of statewide building codes for wildfire-prone areas.
Barrett painted a dark picture of the long-term implications of leaving current wildfire policy priorities unchanged.
“I think what we'll see is a lot more community loss. It will be at a scale that likely pales in comparison to what we've seen in recent years,” she said. “It will be a lot of homes, a lot of families impacted individually, and the ability for communities to recover and thrive following those wildfires will become increasingly more challenging.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
