|
Post by bot on May 18, 2016 19:44:10 GMT -5
FACT SHEET: Mitigating the Risk of Wildfires in the Wildland-Urban Interface by hardcastle The threat of wildfire is increasing in the United States. In 2015, over 68,000 wildfires in the United States burned more than 4,636 structures and ten million acres—the highest number of acres burned on record. The annual estimates on structure loss due to wildfire have increased dramatically for more than six decades. Along with temperature, wildfires are determined by a variety of factors, including precipitation. A hotter, drier climate has a major effect on wildfire generation. As stated in the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment, increased warming, drought, and insect outbreaks, all caused by or linked to climate change, have increased wildfires, especially in the western U.S. Fire models project more wildfire and increased risks to communities across extensive areas in the future. Given strong relationships between climate and fire, even when modified by land use and management, including fuel treatments, projected climate changes suggest that western forests in the United States will be increasingly affected by large and intense fires that occur more frequently. www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/18/fact-sheet-mitigating-risk-wildfires-wildland-urban-interface
|
|