NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 8

Feedback

Readers respond: Are we destined
to build, burn, and repeat?
To the editor:
The cover story on wildfire and residential development ["Build. Burn.
Repeat?"] by Jesse Roman in your January/February issue is powerful, and
also raises so many frustrations. Among
the points it highlights is an alarming
trend in structural loss in the U.S.
"Even as science's knowledge of
wildfires and the causes of home
ignition grows, the number of homes
destroyed by wildfire each year is on
the rise," Roman writes. "There is no

8 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A R C H /A P R I L 2 0 1 8

comprehensive method for tracking
how many homes are lost each year in
the U.S., but the National Interagency
Fire Center (NIFC) does track loss numbers for the nation's largest wildfire
incidents. Tallying those losses offers
a glimpse of a troubling trend. From
1985 to 2000, NIFC data shows that an
annual average of 400 residences were
destroyed in large wildfires. From 2001
to 2011, the number jumped to 1,354,

and during the five years from 2012 to
2016, an annual average of 3,456 residences were destroyed by wildfire. With
more than 6,000 homes destroyed last
October in California alone, 2017 will
again boost the annual averages."
As an overseas observer here in the
UK, and as an occasional wildland
firefighter in the U.S., the title of the
article, "Build. Burn. Repeat?," is a
phrase that I often mull over. It seems

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Email your letters to editor@nfpa.org, or mail them to Editor,

NFPA Journal, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, Massachusetts, 02169. Please include your title,
company or organization affiliation, and where you're based. NFPA Journal reserves the right to
edit letters and comments for content and length.

GONCALO DELGADO/GLOBAL IMAGES/SIPA USA/NEWSCOM

WILDFIRE, DEVELOPMENT, AND US
Recent wildfire activity in the United States, Canada, Europe, and
elsewhere has raised questions about how structures and communities
can be hardened and protected to minimize the risk of ignition.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - March/April 2018

Contents
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 1
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - Contents
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 3
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 4
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 5
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 6
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 7
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 8
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 9
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 10
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 11
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 12
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 13
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 14
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 15
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 16
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 17
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 18
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 19
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 20
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 21
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 22
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 23
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 24
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 25
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 26
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 27
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 28
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 29
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 30
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 31
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 32
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 33
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 34
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 35
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 36
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 37
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 38
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 39
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 40
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 41
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 42
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 43
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 44
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 45
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 46
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 47
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 48
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 49
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 50
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 51
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 52
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 53
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 54
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 55
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 56
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 57
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 58
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NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 60
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 61
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 62
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 63
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NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 65
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NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 67
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NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 70
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 71
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 72
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - 73
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NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - March/April 2018 - Cover4
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