“. . .Climate change is a very real concern, but the bigger driver of accelerating wildfire damage is building houses in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the area where houses are built in or near natural areas” — Dr. Jon Keeley, fire ecologist, US Geological Survey
Above: Fire engines in place for a prescribed burn on Elnoka Wildland in 2025. As an open greenspace, Elnoka Wildland provides critical access for fire-fighting equipment, in case a wildfire threatens Oakmont Village.
Q: What is the Probability of future wildfire in Sonoma County?
A: 100%
Q: Where should new housing be built?
A: In the city
“Typically, urban infill development occurs on vacant lots, brownfields, or properties that are in decline. By focusing on these areas, cities can rejuvenate neighborhoods, fostering economic growth and social integration. This development strategy also combats urban sprawl, which often leads to environmental degradation and increased transportation costs”—Urban Planning Law
Q: Where should new housing not be built?
A: In the wildland urban interface (wui)
“When houses are built close to forests or other types of natural vegetation, they pose two problems related to wildfires. First, there will be more wildfires due to human ignitions. Second, wildfires that occur will pose a greater risk to lives and homes, they will be hard to fight, and letting natural fires burn becomes impossible” Radeloff, et al.
Q: what is the Wildland urban interface (wui)?
A: Where houses are built in or next to wildlands
“The Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire area is the geographical area where human developments (homes, infrastructure, etc.) meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels, creating a zone of transition where elevated wildfire risk exists”—City of Santa Rosa
Q: Is it safe to build in the wui if Firewise building materials are used?
A: very risky . . .
Houses built with or retrofitted with firewise materials stand a better chance of not burning in a wildfire, but there is still a high probability that they could burn. “A McClatchy analysis following the California Camp Fire in October 2018 found that 51% of the structures--built after WUI California building code requirements took effect—escaped damage as compared to 18% of the 12,100 structures built prior”- American Wood Council, 2025, California — Building Codes & the Wildland-Urban Interface
Below is a table showing the number of houses that burned in the Wildland-Urban-Interface (WUI) nationwide, compared to the houses built outside the WUI. “More than half the WUI disasters occurred in California”—from M.D. Caggiano et al.
According to Table 2, below, 86% of the buildings in the WUI burned, while only 14% burned in the non-WUI.
The wildland urban interface in santa rosa
Above is a map zooming in to show Elnoka & Oakmont Village. All the pink areas are inside the wildland urban interface. Elnoka wildland is at the far upper left. Oakmont Village is the area showing streets and houses in black; all the pink areas are inside the wildland-urban-interface.
Above is a map showing in pink the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where buildings are at most risk of burning in a wildfire. Note that Elnoka and Oakmont Village are at the far-right of the map, just south of Highway 12 and above Trione-Annadel State Park.
Summer sunset over Elnoka Wildland
“It’s time to address the elephant in the room: the best and possibly only practical way to protect homes from fire is to stop building so many of them in places that are primed to burn” — Kate Anderson