QUINCY, Mass. — The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is offering resources related to the ongoing wildfires across southern California.
Winds don’t necessarily cause wildfires, say NFPA experts, but wind-driven wildfire can happen just about anywhere. High winds exacerbate the risk because they add oxygen to the fire, which increases its intensity, and helps to move fire very rapidly through vegetation. They also loft embers for a mile or more ahead of the fire front.
“We can’t control the wind, but we can modify fuels, whether those are grasses, shrubs, forests, or our homes and their immediate surroundings,” says Michele Steinberg, director of the NFPA wildfire division, in the association announcement.
“That’s where efforts to prepare homes and neighborhoods in advance can make a substantive difference in reducing their susceptibility to wildfire.”
More Wildfire Information from NFPA
According to the latest national NFPA data:
- There are more than 45 million homes in the wildland/urban interface (WUI), areas that are at high risk from destruction by wildfires. These statistics underscore that the U.S. is facing a wildfire crisis.
- Between 2014-2023, wildfires have destroyed more than 80,000 structures in the U.S., the majority of which were homes. Record high temperatures, drought conditions, and high winds from severe weather events have been blamed for increased wildfire activity in high-risk areas in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Among the NFPA experts on wildfire-related issues are:
- Michele Steinberg, director of the wildfire division at NFPA, who oversees national policy, development regulations, and community safety, and supports wildfire-related projects that cover a broad spectrum of safety education, advocacy, training, and certification.
- Megan Fitzgerald-McGowan, program specialist and former wildland firefighter, who is responsible for the management of the Firewise USA recognition program.
- Curt Floyd, senior specialist and technical lead for Engineering Technical Services at NFPA, who oversees NFPA standards that address the needs of the fire service and emergency responders.
NFPA also offers Outthink Wildfire, a comprehensive strategy that “lays out five key policy changes that need to be made at the federal, state and local levels and, if followed, will end the destruction of communities by wildfire over the next 30 years.”
