In the years that I have been writing this blog on aerial wildland firefighting and related issues, I have frequently come upon the term "wildland urban interface (WUI)", put simply the wildland urban interface is when residential or business development exists next to or in close proximity to undeveloped lands. For example, I have frequently read about the problems caused by residential development in the WUI in areas such as the western United States and in the mountains or large undeveloped lands in the east. The problem posed by the development in the WUI is not just a problem in the west or in the mountains, the WUI can be found across the United States in all States to varying degrees.
Just because your State may have a smaller percentage of development in the WUI does not mean that the problem of wildfires in or near the wildland urban interface is non-existent or minimal. For example, I live in what I call a semi-rural neighborhood in central New Jersey. My neighborhood has many residences but there are some undeveloped areas on or near my street. My risk of being impacted by a wildfire in this undeveloped area is lower than out west or in the mountains, but there is a slight risk. Moreover, if there were such a wildfire in my neighborhood that started in one of these undeveloped parcels of land, unlike in remote and difficult to access locations, first responders and the NJ Forest Fire Service would have easy and quick access.
There is a nice website from FEMA devoted to the wildland urban interface that may be found on their page on "What is the WUI?". They have some important facts on the extent of the WUI including a map from the U.S. Forest Service showing the Number of houses in the WUI relative to the total houses in the state (%) for the lower 48 States. Here are some important facts about the WUI from FEMA's WUI page:
- More than 60,000 communities in the United States are at risk for WUI fires.
- Between 2002 and 2016, an average of over 3,000 structures per year were lost to WUI fires in the United States.
- The WUI area continues to grow by approximately 2 million acres per year.
New Jersey has experienced an increase in development leading to a higher risk of wildfires in the WUI. This risk was exemplied by New Jersey's 2023 Wildfire Season which I have written about in this blog. Here is a
tag to my articles on New Jersey's 2023 Wildfire Season, there are over 50 articles here including some articles on prescribed burns, the most recent is listed first. But you can get a quick idea of the number of wildfires by scrolling through these articles. Structure protection was active in a few of these wildfires, fortunately no residences were lost. Fortunately, and the reason for this post is to highlight a recent report from
6ABC News out of Philadelphia focusing on
the rise in wildfire risk in New Jersey as development continues in fire-prone areas. The video is just under three minutes and is worth watching.
