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This is Science Friday. I'm Flor Lichten.

And I'm Ira Flato. Today on the podcast, did you know that around 44 million homes are in a high-risk fire zone? Because

urban fires spread far and they spread fast. Millions of little embers are flying through the air.

They can crush 10-lane freeways. And whatever they land on, how flammable that is, is whether or not it's going to create a spotfire.

Since January 7th, the news has been filled with the fires devastating Los Angeles.

It's been a week since two of the most destructive wildfires in California history erupted in Los Angeles.

The flames were just kind of leaping right over us.

The multiple blazes combined, singing nearly 40,000 acres in Southern California, decimating communities.

The threat of fires is growing in cities around the U.S., especially in a zone called the Wildland Urban Interface,

or as it's known, wooey. That's where unoccupied wildland and human developments meet and

mingle. In the U.S., around one in three homes are in this high-risk zone. So what's the

science behind urban fires,

and how do we protect ourselves in the face of them?

Here to discuss all these issues are my guests.

Dr. Camico Barrett, senior wildfire researcher and policy analyst

at the Research Group Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Montana,

Dr. Alexandra Seiford, senior research

scientist at the Conservation Biology Institute in San Diego, California. Welcome to Science Friday.

Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Barrett, tell me more about the risks of fires and the wooey interface.

Why is that so dangerous? So the wooey, which is a terrible acronym for the

wildland urban interface is indeed this location, this area where homes intermingle and meet

...