Like so many natural disasters, it’s almost impossible to picture it happening to you. Those outside of tornado alley aren’t likely to worry about how they’re going to take shelter should a twister appear. Those living in the middle of Kansas might see little need to prepare for hurricanes, and likely don’t know there’s a hurricane “season”. Fires, however, can and do happen everywhere, at any time of year. Since 2000, an annual average of 70,600 wildfires has burned an annual average of 7.0 million acres in the U.S alone.
While the average American may think of wildfires as a uniquely Western problem, more wildfires actually occur in the central Eastern or East coast states. However, fires in the West are typically larger and more destructive. In 2020, around 26,000 wildfires burned nearly 9.5 million acres in the West. In the East, only 0.7 million acres were burned in 2020, despite having more fires in total (nearly 33,000). There are many reasons for this, including drier conditions and more plentiful kindling in the Western states. However, fires in this part of the country typically occur on federal lands. In 2020, 71% of Western wildfires occurred on federal lands, while in the East, 81% of all wildfires were on private or state property.
For someone living in a city, the answer for a fire seems fairly simple. Call 911 and they’ll bring their trucks and help you out. However, in rural areas, this process can become much more complex, and therefore more dangerous. A primarily agricultural community may only have two or three trucks within 80 square miles. (In some areas, homeowner’s fire insurance isn’t even available to those who aren’t within a certain distance of a fire hydrant.) Calling in volunteers or assistance from out of the district takes time and resources. If these trucks can’t carry all the water they need from out of town, there may be little recourse. Additionally, long, winding roads or driveways can make accessibility even harder. Mike Wiles, a fire prevention specialist at the Georgia Forestry commission: “There are so many folks that I have talked to over the years that say, ‘You know, if we have a fire, I’ll just call 911, they’ll take care of it. What they don’t realize is when our resources are exhausted, 911 can’t take care of it because there’s nobody to send.”
In a home out in the country, where your neighbors are a short drive away and your yard includes an acre or more of open grass, it’s easy to think of fires as a rare and controllable risk. The risk of embers from a nearby burning home catching on your own property becomes harder to picture the more room that you have between buildings. However, all that open space can be its own fire risk. Lightning strikes can occur anywhere, and in large swaths of forest without pavement to serve as a fire break, this spark can quickly turn into a severe blaze.
For those without a fire prevention plan, the consequences seem to hit the hardest. Seconds can make a world of difference in a disaster. While fires may be rare, this lack of prevention can make a rare fire incredibly destructive, and result in extreme loss of property, business, or even lives. Since 2000, 15 forest fires within the United States have caused at least $1 billion in damages each. The NOAA estimates that between 2017 and 2018, wildfires cost more than $40 billion in damages.
