Wildfires pose a growing risk in populated areas

As climate change drives wildfires deeper into populated areas, building fire resilience into our homes and other structures becomes increasingly important.

Nowhere else is this more visible than in the growing Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) – the zone where residential development meets fire-prone land. From 1990-2010, for example, roughly 43 percent of new housing in the United States was built in WUI areas¹. And by 2018, nearly one-third of the U.S. population lived in WUI zones².

The consequences can be significant. In January 2025, the most damaging wildfires in U.S. history tore through Los Angeles County, destroying around 16,000 buildings, displacing 200,000 residents, and causing an estimated 95-165 BUSD in property and capital losses.

In Europe, 2025 was also the worst wildfire season on record, with fires burning more than one million hectares – an area roughly the size of Cyprus³. The European Environment Agency already rates wildfire risk to the built environment as ‘critical’ across southern Europe, its highest severity level⁴.

So the question becomes, how to harden our homes and buildings against this risk.

In addition to minimising vegetation and other fuel sources near structures and preventing embers from entering through attics, crawl spaces, or other openings, the right choice of building materials is key.

Using non-combustible stone wool insulation and cladding for roofs, walls, and exterior finishes does not add fuel to a fire and may help protect the structure and slow the fire’s spread. If the goal is to strengthen a building’s ability to withstand fire, ROCKWOOL stone wool is a good place to start.

When your choices really matter, why take the risk. If it’s worth protecting, it’s worth ROCKWOOL.

^{[1] Radeloff, V.C. et al., "Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risks", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Vol. 115, No. 13, 2018, pp. 3314–3319.}

^{[1] U.S. Fire Administration. Wildland Urban Interface: A Look at Issues and Resolutions from June 2022.}

^{[2] Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity / LAEDC, Economic Impact Analysis of January 2025 Wildfires, September 2025. Zhiyun Li, William Yu, University of California, Los Angeles, Economic Impact of the Los Angeles wildfires, 12 February 2025. Available at: www.preventionweb.net/news/economic-impact-los-angeles-wildfires.}

^{[3] European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) / European Commission Joint Research Centre, Wildfire Season 2025 Report, December 2025. Available at: https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu.}

^{[4] European Environment Agency (EEA), European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA), EEA Report No. 1/2024, March 2024. Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/european-climate-risk-assessment.}