For many parts of the United States conditions are already "primed" for a bad wildfire season.  Depending upon where you live the term wildfire can have many connotations, especially for residents of the southern California hills and residents of other western U.S. states that regularly see devastating fires every year.  For many other parts of our country, our history of wildfires with serious consequences have thankfully been far and few between.  But that's all changing.

Thomas Freidman, in his latest book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, states that we shouldn't use the term global warming to describe what's happening to our atmosphere--the only one we have, I might add!--from the continuing rise of carbon dioxide levels.  Rather, he says
we should call it global wierding: more and more places seeing record high temperatures while others see record low; areas on the planet being inundated by record rainfalls while other areas are in the grips of choking droughts; weather patterns worldwide that are
more regularly deviating from accepted meteorological norms, e.g., 100-year floods.

So why am I writing about this stuff in a fire safety blog?  Because of a human behavior factor that's increasingly exposing people and their property to the devastation that can be unleashed by an uncontrolled wildfire: the wildland urban interface (WUI).  This is the
term that we use in the fire service to describe the existance of people and their dwellings and other property in areas that still have the characteristics of rural areas, e.g., high vegatation levels, large stands of trees, and underdeveloped roads and other infrastructure.  To put it simple, people among the pines.

While living in and amongst nature certainly has its many pros, that environment can quickly become a death trap when threatened by a wildfire.  A working smoke detector can warn you and your family that a fire is present in your home and provide you with the early warning to safely evacuate your house.  There is no such early warning device for wildland fires in many communities, particularly those that are only now beginning to experience the threat.

So what can you do to protect you and your family?  There are several good websites that provide a wealth of information and tips for preparing you, your family, and your home against the dangers of a wildfire.  I urge you to check them out and get your whole family
involved.  Secondly, pay attention to the weather forecasts for your locality every day.  Stay cognizant of recent rainfall and how dry conditions are in the areas surrounding your home, but more importantly the area in a one to two mile radius of your home.  One of the
dangers of wildfires are that they can originate in a place far away from your home, but can literally be in your backyard in a "New York minute."