"Most California Fires Occur in Area of Wildland-urban Interface with Less Fuel and More People"

We usually come to conclusions using our intuition -- it is the easiest way to reach conclusions.  We don't have time, money or energy to do research and apply analytics to every problem.  Our intuition, based on our personal experiences, often guides us very well.  But when serious analysis is applied in a scientific study, it often reveals a counter-intuitive answer that is more correct than intuition alone.

Such is the case for new research from a U. S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service scientist partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Over nearly three decades, half of all buildings destroyed by wildfire in California were located in an area that is described as having less of the grasses, bushes and trees that are thought to fuel fire in the wildland-urban interface, or WUI."

You can read a summary of the research on the USDA Forest Service website.  Or, you can download the original research.