Wildland Urban Interface

Graphic of home ignition zone

WUI Fire Evacuation and Sheltering Considerations- Assessment, Planning, and Execution (ESCAPE) Course

Visit course website.

Learn how ESCAPE (WUI Fire Evacuation and Sheltering Considerations — Assessment, Planning, and Execution) provides crucial guidance for wildfire evacuation planning, enhancing life safety for civilians and first responders.

This course is available anytime and takes about 3 hours to complete.

The Nature Conservancy logo

Leading Effective Community-Driven Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)

Training details and registration.

In this streamlined class, you’ll learn how to guide a focused and actionable Community Wildfire Protection Plan process that delivers results. You’ll learn to:

  • Map out each stage of CWPP development
  • Assess local wildfire risks using trusted tools
  • Engage your community and prioritize treatments
  • Build and implement a results-driven action plan

Training will be JUNE 9 – 10
8 A.M. – 5 P.M. Redmond Fire and Rescue
341 NW Dogwood Ave. Redmond, Oregon

Webinar, video, audio icon

Landscaping codes to conserve water and reduce wildfire risk

Webinar recording.

Communities have long used landscaping codes to reduce water consumption, but a few stand-out cities have crafted codes that pair water-wise goals with fire-wise principles. Join experts for an hour-long webinar exploring how these double-duty landscaping codes can reduce fire risk and encourage water conservation in your community.

US Geological Survey logo

Fueling discovery with USGS wildland fire science

Webinar details and join link.

Wildfires are becoming more destructive as burned area increases and as more homes are built in the wildland-urban interface, but it is unclear how these patterns are affected by changing wildfire behavior in different fuel types. To better understand changing patterns of wildfire destruction, we mapped buildings exposed to and destroyed by wildfires in the conterminous U.S. from 2000-2020. From these maps, we determined that the probability of an exposed building being destroyed by wildfire has more than tripled over the past two decades, and that more wildfire destruction is occurring in forests relative to grass and shrublands. Understanding these changing patterns can help us design more effective strategies to mitigate risk.

Restored site in OR

Fire Smart Landscaping in New Mexico

Webinar registration.

Informative webinar on fire-resistant plants and commonly found species in New Mexico. Also, learn more about effective landscaping techniques to help reduce wildfire risk and protect your property.

Journal article icon

Compounding effects of climate change and WUI expansion quadruple the likelihood of extreme-impact wildfires in CA

View article.

Previous research has examined individual factors contributing to wildfire risk, but the compounding effects of these factors remain underexplored. Here, we introduce the “Integrated Human-centric Wildfire Risk Index (IHWRI)” to quantify the compounding effects of fire-weather intensification and anthropogenic factors—including ignitions and human settlement into wildland—on wildfire risk. While climatic trends increased the frequency of high-risk fire-weather by 2.5-fold, the combination of this trend with wildland-urban interface expansion led to a 4.1-fold increase in the frequency of conditions conducive to extreme-impact wildfires from 1990 to 2022 across California. More than three-quarters of extreme-impact wildfires—defined as the top 20 largest, most destructive, or deadliest events on record—originated within 1 km from the wildland-urban interface. The deadliest and most destructive wildfires—90% of which were human-caused—primarily occurred in the fall, while the largest wildfires—56% of which were human-caused—mostly took place in the summer. By integrating human activity and climate change impacts, we provide a holistic understanding of human-centric wildfire risk, crucial for policy development.

Icon for Field Guide resources

Wildland urban interface mitigation field guide

View field guide.

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Field Guide, PMS 053 provides mitigation practitioners at all experience levels with recommendations on the most effective and efficient ways to accomplish mitigation work in communities at risk to wildfire damage or destruction. The content in this guide was written in coordination with the NWCG Standards for Mitigation in the Wildland Urban Interface, PMS 052.

Factsheet/brief icon

Wildland firefighters’ perceptions of structure defensibility

View factsheet.

This brief summarizes a recent study that assessed factors driving perceived defensibility through the lens of wildland firefighters to learn more about how they evaluate the risks associated with different structures. It provides insight into structure defensibility in action, and the factors that firefighters may consider when they engage a fire near structures.

Factsheet/brief icon

Perspectives on collaborative Rx fire planning and implementation: Old Woman South case study

Researchers at Utah State University studied the Old Woman South Prescribed Fire project, planned and implemented by U.S. Forest Service and Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands personnel on the Fishlake National Forest and adjacent private lands in 2022-23. The research examined perceptions of agency personnel, landowners, and other affected persons about the project, which included strong efforts to maintain communication and collaboration among agency personnel, landowners, and other affected persons, using a prescription designed to minimize the risk of escape or loss of valued resources.

Factsheet/brief icon

Identifying public concerns about prescribed fire in Utah

In this Utah State University study, we began by reviewing published academic literature, focusing on the few studies conducted in Utah. To dig deeper, we focused on concerns raised in Summit County, where prescribed burning has drawn considerable public attention and occasional opposition. Finally, we conducted a preliminary online survey of wildland-urban interface (WUI) residents across the state to assess initial levels of concern and/or support for prescribed fire.

Narrow your search

Resource Types
No results found
Webinar (34)
Article / Book (33)
Fact Sheet / Brief (11)
Resource Collection (7)
Synthesis / Tech Report (7)
Conference / Meeting (5)
Field Guide (5)
Video (4)
Story Map (3)
Tool (3)
Topic
No results found
Case Study (6)
Climate & Fire & Adaptation (7)
Decision Support (6)
Fire & Economics (3)
Fire Behavior (7)
Fire Communication & Education (28)
Fire Ecology & Effects (1)
Fire Policy (2)
Fire Regimes (3)
Fire Risk (13)
Firefighter Safety (3)
Fuels & Fuel Treatments (10)
Human Dimensions of Fire (11)
Invasive Species (2)
Landscape Analysis (3)
Post-fire Environment & Management (2)
Resistance & Resilience (1)
Sagebrush (1)
Smoke (1)
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (1)
Weather Effects (2)
Wildland Urban Interface (126)

Stay Connected