The wildland-urban interface fire problem

Abstract

The fire destruction of hundreds of homes associated with wildfires has occurred in the United States for more than a century. From 1870 to 1920, massive wildfires occurred principally in the Lake States but also elsewhere. Wildfires such as Peshtigo (Wisconsin, 1871), Michigan (1881), Hinckley (Minnesota, 1894), Adirondack (New York, 1903), the Big Blowup (Idaho-Montana, 1910), and Cloquet (Minnesota, 1918) extended across millions of acres, destroying towns and causing several thousand civilian fatalities (Pyne 1982). This period produced significantly greater destruction of property and lives than has occurred in the past 50 years.

Citation

Cohen, Jack. 2010. The wildland-urban interface fire problem. Fremontia. 38(2)-38(3): 16-22.