14 - Wildfire Federalism: A Framework for Local Government Participation in Disaster Planning

Summary

Never has disaster planning been more important than in this time of the climate’s change. In western United States, climate change has produced a number of stark effects already evident. None, however, is more dramatic than wildfire’s growth from seasonal annoyance to nearly year-round threat to life. Climatic changes butt up against the west’s extraordinary population growth, which increasingly brings the urban edge of population centers into areas that once burned with little or no concern for loss of life or property. As suppression costs for wildfire have soared, a new emphasis on planning for wildfire in this wildland-urban interface (WUI) has taken on strategic importance. This chapter provides a basic structure for engaging wildfire planning in WUI communities, including rural communities that can be especially susceptible to wildfire but also distrustful of government action.