Rural sprawl raising wildfire risk in Sierra Nevada

As more homes have risen in wild areas of the Sierra Nevada, there are increased risks for wildfire, and taxpayers are paying for it, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

A two-year study by the Sierra Nevada Alliance shows that this "rural sprawl" has moved into fire danger areas,the communities, Peter Fimrite reports. As a result, many communities "cannot afford to maintain roads, build new infrastructure and pay for the fire protection necessary to keep up with the growth," he writes. The Sierra Nevada is California's third-fastest growing region; 88,000 people moved there between 1990 and 2000. And now 94 percent of new development there is within fire-prone areas, the alliance's report says.

"The more development you have the more challenges you have," Rex Norman, spokesman for the Lake Tahoe basin management unit of the U.S. Forest Service, told Fimrite. "As an agency we don't get into private property issues, but we are a participant in the concern, mainly with regard to the resources that people need for fire protection and the work people need to do to prevent fire."

The report suggests that homeowners in these areas pay the cost of increased protection and that communities keep development within already developed areas. (Read more)