Settlements are increasingly exposed to wildfire
#00231
Development in fire-prone landscapes, combustible buildings, and fragile utilities expose communities to ember storms, structure-to-structure spread, and infrastructure failure.
Parent issue
#00226 Destructive wildfires increasingly threaten people, ecosystems and the climate worldwide
Sustainable Development Goals
Location
Description
More people and assets are located where landscape fire can reach homes, businesses, and public infrastructure. Exposure becomes a disaster when land-use decisions, building materials, parcel conditions, and utility systems allow embers or flames to ignite structures and disrupt essential services.
Risk is shared across a neighborhood. A hardened building can still be threatened by burning adjacent structures, while failed water, electricity, or telecommunications can undermine evacuation and defense.
This issue covers physical settlement exposure and vulnerability. Detection, suppression, and evacuation operations are treated separately.
Sources: UNDRR wildfire hazard information and NIST community wildfire hazard mitigation research.
Sub-issues
3Top solutions
0