You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Hey everybody, Emily Kwong here with NPR Climate Correspondent Lauren Summer.

Hello Lauren.

Hey Emily.

So your story today starts with some detective work.

Yeah, and you might think of it as climate change forensics because it's the kind of thing

that unfortunately is becoming more important as climate change makes wildfires and floods worse.

The story starts back in October after the glass fire exploded in northern California.

You know, in like a lot of fires that broke records last year, it moved incredibly fast.

Yeah.

A team from the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety was sifting through these piles of

charred rubble, you know, just what remains of some people's houses.

They were looking for clues about how some homes can survive wildfires because the weird thing

that happens sometimes is that one house will burn to the ground while the one next door is totally fine.

Yeah, how does that even work?

Because if there's just a wall of flames coming towards a neighborhood, it doesn't seem like anything would survive.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, that you can't do much about.

But most houses don't burn down that way. They're ignited by embers blown ahead of the fire.

So most houses don't burn down from the fire itself, but are kind of ignited by those glowing

sparks you might see floating in the air?

Yeah, you know, kind of like what you'd see from a campfire, but you know, these are blown up to a

mile ahead of a wildfire. And if one of those lands on a wood roof or maybe there's some leaves and

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