By james art 
LA tragic fires have covered the country. And in the West, many wonder if their communities can be at a similar risk.
The death rate of historical fires is already over 25 and thousands of structures have been destroyed. Estimated losses are measured in Tens of billions on dollars.
“What played in LA, could easily happen in other communities, other cities in the West and even outside the West,” says Kimico Barrett, a senior fire researcher at Montana -based Headwaters Economics.
She said this is because the merger of extreme fires with climate change and the increase in development in the so -called wildlife interface (WUI) is not unique to La Barrett at all, while others were argumentation More attention should be paid to urban Part of WUI. And that there is too much emphasis on interventions in wild land – as the prescribed fire – as a way to protect the structures.
“Fuel treatment in the wild is regarded as a major tool for reducing the loss of structure, despite decades of studies showing that the conditions of structures and their immediate environment are largely responsible for the loss,” the White Book, which She was co -authored last year. “This is the responsibility of the Community.”
Barrett advocates a number of changes in policy: construction standards for the fire department and the rules for zoning at the local level; funding, staff and technical support of communities at state and federal levels; And the creation of a federal inter -departmental body to coordinate and support the hardening of the home and other efforts to resilient.
“This should happen on all these scale,” Barrett said.
This story has been produced by The Mountain West News Bureau, a cooperation between public media in Wyoming, public radio in Nevada, Boyz Public Radio in Idaho, Kun in Nevad region. Funding of the Mountain Western News Bureau is provided in part by Public broadcastS