Why fire "season" doesn't end

How many Americans do you think live in a wildfire risk zone? The answer, a third of the US population. This number used to be one in six. And fire season is only growing. >> Now to the dry and hot conditions fueling dozens of wildfires in the West. >> This fire burning so hot it's creating its own erratic weather system. This fire just one of hundreds burning across North America right now. >> On average, a whole month has been added to fire season in parts of the western US. It starts earlier, it goes longer. We can have fires any time of the year. >> Fire season is now fire year. >> Right now across the American West, as we're entering some of the worst fire conditions we've ever faced this season, we also have some of the lowest staffing that we've ever had for wilder firefighters. That's a recipe for disaster. And while the government does share some wildfire data, it doesn't always tell the story on the ground, specifically around the health and well-being of those protecting the most rural parts of America, the wildland firefighters. >> Working 16-hour days in extreme heat, sleeping in smoke, breathing smoke, that takes a toll on your body. >> So, what does it take for wildland firefighters to battle these increasingly intense fires? And how can communities across rural America protect themselves? We're seeing the greatest in relative increase in acres burned above elevations at 8,000 ft. If you were a firefighter in the '9s, you might say, "Oh, you know, that area can't burn." And now we're seeing those areas burn really vigorously. >> Climate change, which is driving higher temperatures and drier conditions, is one component. The human factor is another. 85% of wildfires are started by humans. So where humans live and recreate like hiking, camping, and traveling matter. >> People are moving outside of urban centers more into the hazardous wildfire prone areas. >> When I started fighting fires in the 70s, there weren't that many rural subdivisions in the woods. >> Bobby is referring to the expansion of what is known as the wildland urban interface or WOOI. The WOOI is the zone of transition where houses and buildings are built close to unoccupied wildland areas, creating zones of high wildfire risk. >> You've really exacerbated the problem because you put all this flammable material in and all these points of ignitions with these homes. >> But do people know the actual risks of living in the WOOI? >> People aren't very concerned because they think the fire department is going to come save them. But when the weather and the climate and the fuel and everything goes against them, there's not much anybody's going to do against a large fire. So, the biggest thing is getting people to understand >> the stresses on a traditional seasonal fire service has grown immensely. The time away from home, the amount of work that you have to do, the duration, the smoke accumulation that firefighters go through. We're having a lot more wildland fires that become wildland urban interface fires. People are realizing that, hey, I'm breathing this smoke of, you know, 100 homes on fire, you know, with their plastics and their thousands of different chemical compounds. >> Wildland firefighters are exposed to 31 carcinogens in the line of duty. >> It's extremely difficult to staff crews of wildland firefighters now because the difficulty of the conditions they're facing has outpaced their compensation. What does it take to support them? It takes health care so the people with the expertise to manage these fires will keep working and stay healthy doing so. >> Protecting and properly compensating wildland firefighters is a critical piece of the equation, but there's also education and awareness, which we'll get back to right after this message. This is another episode in a series of videos we're doing on how emergency help gets to remote places. Rural parts of the US often struggle to get the same services as more populated regions. We wanted to explore what those challenges look like and what might be done to make things better. And thanks to our sponsor, T-Mobile for supporting this video. T-Mobile is now the best mobile network in the US according to UCLA Speed Test and continues to be committed to supporting first responders and their families with exclusive deals. You can learn more at the link below. T-Mobile didn't dictate the content of this video, but their support did make our reporting possible. Now, back to the video. >> We're trying to help everyone understand you can do things around your own property. sometimes is fire escaping. >> Lois is referring to fire adapted communities, a framework for educating communities to be fire resilient. >> Start right around your home. Do the 0 to 5 ft zone. Make sure that that's as safe as it can be. >> These zones refer to defensive buffers between houses and wildfires. In the first zone of defense, homeowners should clear their gutters and remove firewood, debris, and other flammable materials. In the second zone, they should design landscaping to create breaks with smaller clusters of trees and shrubs. Bob Roer and his colleagues have also developed a program called Ready, Set, Go to help fire departments and vulnerable residents learn what to do before, during, and after a fire. And >> I think the public should, you know, really think about the future, think about how they want to be protected by the fire service by contextualizing the fact that, you know, we we haven't seen the worst fire. We're going to continue to see everinccreasing larger fires, more destructive. >> I think it's more important than ever for people to think about fire not as a singular thing, but fire plural. >> The most resilient tool we have to fight fires in the US utilizes indigenous fire practices of controlled burns. >> There are also kinds of fire that a lot of our ecosystems in California, but all across North America evolved to thrive with. And if we can bring back the good kinds of fire, the kinds of fires that these ecosystems need, then we can really make our landscapes more resilient. >> We can do the fuel mitigation. We can remove the fuel, but the research shows that prescribed fire is really has to happen. >> While the state of California has partnered with the Karuk and Clamoth tribes to practice controlled burns, it's only one small step to fighting these growing fires. Addressing climate change, encouraging fires safe rural planning, and increasing support for wildland firefighters will be just as critical.