| Fireproofing Homes Dramatically Reduces the Spread of Forest Fires, Scientists Report |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Friday, 11 July 2008 10:19 |
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Why do some forest fires spread rapidly over large areas, destroying and damaging many homes, while others are contained with minimal damage? New research shows a major factor is whether homes are fireproofed — not just yours, but those of your neighbors as well. "There is actually more flammable material in a house per square yard than in a forest," said Michael Ghil, UCLA distinguished professor of climate dynamics and geosciences and co-author of the research, which will be published in the Sept. 4 print edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is currently available online. "It makes a tremendous difference whether you fireproof your home or not," Ghil said. "Neighborhoods where homes are fireproofed suffer significantly less damage than neighborhoods where they are not." "Our study shows that fireproofing of homes is important not only for the houses, but also for the forest," said Ghil, who is a member of the Institute of the Environment and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UCLA, with a joint appointment in geosciences at France's Ecole Normale Supérieure. "We looked systematically for the first time at both the dwellings and at the forest. When you fireproof houses, not only do you help preserve those houses, but you also help limit the spread of fires to a much smaller area." |