The Hill: "Wealthiest Incur Most Wildfire Damage; Low-Income Most Exposed"

A new paper by RFF scholars Matthew Wibbenmeyer and Molly Robertson about wildfire risk is profiled in both the Hill's sustainability newsletter and in a stand-alone piece.

View on The Hill website

Date

May 26, 2022

News Type

Media Highlight

Source

The Hill

Wealthiest incur most wildfire damage; low-income most exposed

While wealthy homeowners in the U.S. West are enduring the most damage from wildfires, the poorest households are most likely to be situated in wildfire hazard zones.

The finding was part of a study published on Thursday in Environmental Research Letters.

What the study found: The top 10 percent most valuable homes in the western U.S. are 70 percent more likely to be in high wildfire danger zones than median-value properties.

The newsletter continues a thorough analysis of the paper.

You can read the stand-alone piece here.

Topics

Related People

Matthew Wibbenmeyer

Fellow

Matthew Wibbenmeyer is a fellow at RFF. His research seeks to understand climate impacts and climate mitigation policies related to the forest and land sectors, with a special focus on wildfire.

Molly Robertson

Senior Research Associate

Molly Robertson is a senior research associate at Resources for the Future.

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