The world is at greater risk of wildfire damage than ever before, according to newly released information from Nevada’s Desert Research Institute and the University of Tasmania, and that’s being evidenced by the flames racing across three states in the American Southwest.
Triple-digit heat intensified wildfires Sunday in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico, forcing the evacuation of hundreds and requiring the service of an increasing number of firefighters.
The high-pressure system in the area has pushed temperatures to record levels, reaching 118 degrees in Phoenix and 108 in Burbank, California, breaking records for both cities. The fires come at a time when Southern California has already suffered through four years of drought, dried vegetation and low humidity.
“If a fire gets started, it really spreads,” said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.
It’s part of a larger pattern identified in the Desert Research Institute report. According to the analysis, fire weather season length has increased by 18.7% from 1979 to 2013.
And it isn’t just longer seasons – the amount of area each year impacted by wildfire is larger than ever before.
CoreLogic suggests than nearly 21,000 homes in the Pacific Northwest are at “very high” risk of destruction.
Fires have destroyed nearly 3,000 homes since 2000, according to CoreLogic, and the newly published research from American and Australian scholars suggests that trend won’t be turning around any time soon. However, not everyone is at equal risk and producers need to be aware of some important trends.
Unsurprisingly, businesses and homeowners in the Southern Rockies and South-Central US are at the greatest risk of wildfire damage. Together, the two regions contain more than 145,000 properties categorized as “very high risk” and another 915,000 at “high risk.”
The Northern Rockies and Pacific Southwest are also more in danger of out-of-control flames than other regions in the US.
But the study does more than just identify large, general swaths of the highest potential risk areas. According to Dr. Thomas Jeffrey, senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic, the data also reveals that new homes and businesses are especially exposed to wildfire damage.
“New home construction in and around urban areas tends to occur on the outer edge of current development,” Jeffery said. “The fact that newly constructed homes are likely to be located in areas that would be in close proximity to wildfire risk is an important consideration for brokers and agents.”
He added that agents assessing quotes for homes and businesses in “urban” areas should check to see whether the buildings are in close proximity to high fuel concentrations outside the actual urban or parcel boundary. If they are, this could affect their policy premiums.
These lessons aren’t just for producers and clients who live in the areas outlined in the study, however. Jeffrey says no one should write off wildfire risk simply because they don’t sell insurance in the generally-acknowledged hotspots.
“The geographic concentrations of higher wildfire risk are not limited to the traditionally-accepted wildfire states like California or Colorado,” Jeffrey said. “It is clear from this report that all of the western states have areas of higher wildfire risk.”
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