Are Arizona cities prepared to evade urban wildfires? If not, will they build back better?
Key points
- Fire awareness is not new to communities in Arizona's high country, but the losses of life and property in California was a sobering reminder that "it could happen anywhere."
- Some Arizona communities have adopted "Firewise" methods to protect homes and property from wildfires, but costs and resistance to regulation have slowed work in other parts of the state.
- Residents of Flagstaff and Pinetop-Lakeside have approved plans to protect their communities. Both places have seen wildfires burn through neighborhoods in the past.
As the Palisades and Eaton fires ravaged neighborhoods across Los Angeles throughout January, Flagstaff residents watched nervously from afar, refreshing weather forecasts, hoping for any hint of moisture on the way.
By the time the California flames were finally extinguished on Jan. 31, Arizona's largest forested city had logged just 5.9 total inches of snow so far that winter — 12% of the 49.1-inch average by that date and just over half the previous record low of 10.2 inches, set in 1934. The numbers threatened the state's water supply for the coming years.
Noah Baker, the city's wildfire, climate and community health specialist, knew the numbers also likely meant a long, fiery summer ahead. A member of the city's Sustainability Office, Baker spends much of his time engaging community members on wildfire education and outreach, visiting neighborhoods and talking to homeowners about how to take fire precautions in western forests that, as the climate gets drier and hotter, resemble tinderboxes more and more.
Read the full article here: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2025/04/25/arizona-cities-aim-to-avert-urban-wildfire-disaster/83084112007/