“We have to provide a way for firefighters to enter and exit the career in a healthy manner,” says an advocate for improved working conditions.Continue readingFor wildland firefighters, another battle looms: for pay and mental health care to match their growing workload
Category: Wildfire & the West
The data-driven insurance business is in trouble as climate-change-driven disasters arrive with greater fury and frequency. Continue readingFor beleaguered homeowners and their insurers, the fire next time could be a flood
Even after record-setting fires devastated communities around the West, resistance to policies to reduce housing vulnerability persists, particularly if they constrain development. Continue reading“Fire Amnesia” Hurt Efforts to Make Wildland Housing More Resilient
An academic study supports the notion that one way to mitigate wildfires is clearing out trees, brush and brambles in the forest understory, often with prescribed burns. But proponents face a slew of obstacles, from pollution concerns and shrinking seasonal windows, to the vast scale of undertreated western forestland.Continue readingGaining in Public Acceptance, Can Prescribed Fires Head Off Devastating Wildfires?
In the federal government, wildfires have a lesser claim on disaster funds. As fires burn with greater magnitude and frequency, the cost of fighting them is increasingly borne by money earmarked for prevention.Continue readingAre Forest Managers Robbing the Future to Pay for Present-Day Fires?
