New Research Shows How Wildfire Mitigation Efforts Could Save Communities Billions in Damages

New research and modeling released today in an interactive website, “The Cost of Delay”, published by Vibrant Planet Data Commons (VPDC) and Megafire Action shows how modest investments in wildfire risk mitigation could deliver billions of dollars in avoided losses for seven wildfire-susceptible communities across the US. VPDC is a nonprofit partner of Vibrant Planet, a wildfire risk analytics and mitigation planning platform, which provided Pyrologix™ wildfire and other analytics for the project.

These findings come ahead of Congress’s first-ever hearing on wildfire technology on June 26, a critical moment that will identify the need to pass the bipartisan Fix our Forests Act (FOFA), which would provide long-overdue permitting reform that accelerates proven wildfire mitigation efforts and creates new wildfire intelligence and technology offices. 

This analysis examines the use of proven mitigation efforts, like mechanical thinning or prescribed fires, to show how catastrophic damage could be mitigated in these communities. It uses real-world fire behavior and weather data to model potential mitigation effects versus no treatment. 

“Our research findings today reinforce an important fact about the state of our country’s wildfire response: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” said Allison Wolf, CEO of Vibrant Planet. “We know what works when it comes to protecting our communities, water supply, biodiversity, and beloved recreation areas from catastrophic wildfire, which is why it’s critically important that the Senate move forward with the bipartisan Fix our Forests Act –  a long-overdue and necessary piece of legislation that will help give our communities the tools they need to mitigate community risk while improving ecological resilience surrounding communities across the U.S.”

“Across the country, it often takes more than 1,000 days to approve a prescribed burn or thinning project under current regulations—leaving us unable to do the work needed to protect our communities and save us billions of dollars in damages,” said Megafire Action CEO Matt Weiner. “No permit is required for a megafire to destroy a community, but the work that could prevent one includes years of paperwork, legal review, and the constant threat of litigation. That’s one key reason why the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) is our best shot at fixing this growing crisis—because it cuts red tape and, by creating structures like the Wildfire Intelligence Center that can leverage cutting edge technology, actually tackles the root of the problem instead of just throwing money at it.”

“The wildfire crisis requires rapid action across communities, the wild-urban Interface, and the nation’s wildlands to mitigate risk and build resilience. Action starts with arming the public with clear, data-driven communication about both the risk we all face, as well as the solutions that exist, to avoid catastrophic impacts from wildfire,” said Oktay Dogramaci, Vibrant Planet Data Commons. 

A brief look at the numerical impact of the wildfire crisis shows the need to pass FOFA: 

• Vibrant Planet analysis, displayed at the Cost of Delay website shows that a combined $138M invested in wildfire resilience treatments across the seven communities analyzed could avoid more than $1B in total structure losses 
• The wildfire crisis causes the U.S. $100 billion annually. The Los Angeles fires this year caused that much alone. 
• Since 2020, catastrophic fires have destroyed more than 100,000 structures.
• Today, 300 communities across the Western U.S. are in the same 98-100 percentile of wildfire likelihood and structure vulnerability to wildfire, just like Altadena. Catastrophic wildfire is imminent in these communities. 
• More than 1 million structures face extreme wildfire exposure, representing up to $600 billion in direct property risk, according to 2025 modeling from Vibrant Planet and Pyrologix.

The Fix Our Forests Act would expand categorical exclusions to 10,000 acres in the highest-risk firesheds, and, through the proposed Wildfire Technology Center, would give agencies the tools they need to rapidly coordinate and implement proven risk mitigation treatments at scale – so our communities can actually prepare, instead of react. 

The full research findings can be found HERE. 

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