June 12, 2023
Despite a relatively average 2022 wildfire season, fears of wildfires remain at an “all-time high,” and those fears appear to be one driver of decision-making on property insurance. A new report from Gallagher Re shows the threat of damaging wildfires …
September 19, 2022
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is funding research to better predict who wildfires spread from burning wildlands to communities. CalFire awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers Albert Simeoni and James Urban $514,981 by to develop a model to …
September 1, 2020
The Colorado State Forest Service has launched a wildland-urban interface risk index. The county-by-county index uses housing density combined with modeled fire behavior to determine where the greatest potential impact to people and homes is likely to occur. The index …
March 4, 2019
Joan Didion’s “Holy Water,” written in 1977, is a paean to the elaborate engineering that supplied her taps in Malibu and filled drinking glasses in Hollywood restaurants. At its heart is a warning: The apparent ease of California life is …
September 16, 2015
A new U.S. Forest Service report shows the continued expansion of housing development near forests, an area referred to as the wildland-urban interface, with direct implications for the cost of wildfire fighting. Increasing densities of people and infrastructure in the …