Wildfire recovery as a “hot moment” for creating fire-adapted communities

Recent decades have witnessed an escalation in the social, economic, and ecological impacts of wildfires worldwide. Wildfire losses stem from the complex interplay of social and ecological forces at multiple scales, including global climate change, regional wildfire regimes altered by human activities, and locally managed wildland-urban interface (WUI) zones where homes increasingly encroach upon wildland vegetation. The coupled nature of the human-ecological system is precisely what makes reducing wildfire risks challenging. As losses from wildfire have accelerated, an emerging research and management objective has been to create fire-adapted communities where ecologically functional levels of wildfire are preserved but risks to human lives and property are minimized. Realizing such a vision will require widespread and decentralized action, but questions remain as to when and how such a transformation could take place. We suggest that the period following a destructive wildfire may provide a “hot moment” for community adaptation.