Weather Insider: The risk of wildfires on homes and infrastructure

Wildfires are one of the biggest threats to both people's homes and vital infrastructure, and the risks of being impacted by wildfires are only increasing thanks to climate change. In fact, a research paper from 20321 found that at least 2/3 (two-thirds) of the increase in fire weather across the US in recent decades can be attributed to human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change. Here in California, more than 38 million people, or 97% of the state's population, live in a county with a high or very high risk of wildfires.

Aside from the risk to peoples' homes, hundreds of thousands of miles of roads are also at risk from wildfires. Between 2000 and 2019, more than 250,000 miles of roads were exposed to fires. That's enough to wrap around the earth more than 10 times!

Power lines are also a major piece of vital infrastructure that is put at risk from wildfires. From 2000 - 2019, more than 9,000 miles of powerlines were exposed to fires. That's more than 3x the length of I-80 which spans from San Francisco to New Jersey. California took the top place for the highest number of vulnerable powerlines with 2,176 miles exposed.