For state governments and communities, there are lessons to learn from Australia's fire-protection model. There, the government's wildfire policy, called "Stay or Go," requires that residents create defensible space by regularly thinning the brush and trees around their homes and train in basic firefighting tactics. Australians are encouraged to stay and help fight fires when the flames approach their houses, but if they decide to flee, they must do so at the first sight of smoke.
America doesn't have such a policy. The rule of thumb here is best described as, "Hope, Pray, and Run." In other words, hope that fires don't start, pray that firefighters put them out when they do, and run when the flames burn toward houses.
Australia's "Stay or Go" policy would never work in the U.S.. In the West, dry grass and forests, steep mountains, and strong winds lead to fires far too explosive for amateurs to fight, and the idea that Americans fight the fires that threaten their houses is unrealistic and dangerous. But there are pieces of "Stay or Go" that federal, state, and county governments would be reckless not to adopt. Homeowners should be proactively preparing for fires--as they do in Australia--by thinning brush around their homes and installing fire resistant roofs and siding.
