Jack Cohen, a physical research scientist, wants people to rethink wildfire disaster.
The researcher gave a presentation at the Building for Wildfire Summit in Big Sky on Wednesday and said inevitable wildfires don’t have to result in inevitable loss of structures or human life.
“This is a condition of the home problem, not a wildfire problem,” Cohen said.
Cohen, now retired, began researching wildland fires for the U.S. Forest Service in 1976. He studied patterns of wildfires and has found a number of ways a structure can be protected in extreme conditions.
Those protections have nothing to do with controlling the flames and everything to do with how a structure is built.
Much of the summit focused on how homes can be built and designed to resist catching fire. The event was organized by the Big Sky Fire Department and Headwaters Economics through the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire program. Architects, builders, government officials, fire experts and private businesses participated in the discussion.