“There is no management trend that shows that we are going to be able to control all wildfires.”
- Jack Cohen, Ph.D., Retired U.S. Forest Service Fire Scientist
Jack Cohen has dedicated his career to advocating for shifting our focus from preventing wildfires, to preventing home ignition.
Jack Cohen’s research addresses the questions, Why are we putting our time and energy into wildfire fighting efforts with such limited margins of success, and How much vegetation control do we actually need to do in order to eliminate exposure to ignition from a wildfire?
In 1997, Jack carried out an experiment in which he ignited several blocks of boreal forest next to wooden structures that were placed at 33 feet, 66 feet, and 98 feet away from the flames. The structure at 33 feet ignited on all sides, but the structure at 66 feet was only charred on one side.
Your Home Can Survive a Wildfire
Short film produced by the National Fire Protection Association, in which Jack Cohen explains how to use your landscaping as wildfire defense.
Community Destruction During Extreme Wildfires is a Home Ignition Problem
2010 article written by Jack Cohen for Wildfire Today
