wildland-urban interface (WUI)
How WUI fire risk-reduction applies to dense urban areas Written by Simona Dossi, Shrey Bohra, and Guillermo Rein On July 19th 2022 the London Fire Brigade experienced its busiest day since World War II assisting many incidents, including several wildfires which spread to buildings. In total 41 London properties, including houses and shops, were destroyed by fires. In July 2022, the UK reached record high temperatures. The heat wave caused a number of wildfires throughout the country: Two major incidents due to fires were declared on July 19th in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and a third on July 22nd in Surrey due […]
By Carmen Rodríguez Traditionally, in the fire field – listening to the term “community vulnerable to fire” makes us think of a wildland-urban interface (WUI) with wooden houses and a lot of highly flammable trees in a fire-prone area. However, the more Social Science we bring on board to the forest fire debate, the more we realize how narrow that vision is. There is a biophysical component to vulnerability, of course, but there are other economic and especially social considerations that are very often not taken into account. The Hyogo Framework for Action defines vulnerability as: “The conditions determined by […]