The delicate art—and evolving science—of wildfire evacuations
Since the late 1990’s, more deadly wildfires have swept the western US, due in part
to climate change, in part to forest management practices and in part to development along the wildland-urban interface—meaning more people live in fire-prone
places. “It’s been really stark raving mad, a real out-of-control madhouse,” says
Tom Cova. "Those fires have complicated everyone’s understanding of how residents
get out of the way of fires—and whether they choose to leave at all."
Additional Coverage
California's fire season has been bad. But it could have been much worse