Increasingly, due to the warming climate, wildfires are becoming more common than in the recent past, posing a threat to towns and rural development. Part of the reason has to do with how wildfires burn.

Embers spread by high winds can enter communities and set structures on fire. For instance, the fires that led to the home losses in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, California, this past winter were wind-driven events. High winds propel all large fires.

The government’s focus on forest thinning and prescribed burns leads to a misallocation of funds. Reducing home flammability is far more cost-effective than trying to fire-proof a forest. Not to mention, more than half of the wildfire acreage occurs in scrublands and grasslands.

How and where we build can determine how vulnerable homes are to wildfires. If a house is fire-resistant, it can withstand a blaze. One can do........

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