{"id":3300,"date":"2026-08-13T02:40:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/westtexasrangelands\/?p=3300"},"modified":"2026-08-13T03:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T03:14:25","slug":"beforethesmoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/westtexasrangelands\/beforethesmoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildfire Resilience Starts Before the Fire: Lessons from Fire Scientist Jack Cohen"},"content":{"rendered":"

When headlines focus on record-setting wildfires, the conversation often centers on flame lengths, acres burned, and suppression efforts. While these factors matter, one of the nation’s leading wildfire scientists argues that we may be asking the wrong question.<\/p>\n

Instead of asking how to stop every wildfire, Dr. Jack Cohen encourages us to ask how we can better prepare homes, ranches, and communities to withstand them. In a recent interview published in Forest News<\/em>, Cohen discussed decades of research that have transformed our understanding of wildfire risk and what truly drives losses during wildfire events.<\/p>\n

For landowners and producers across Texas, his message is both practical and empowering: wildfire resilience begins long before smoke appears on the horizon.<\/p>\n

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Rethinking Wildfire Risk<\/strong>
\nCohen’s work as a Forest Service fire scientist helped reshape how wildfire professionals think about community losses. According to the interview, his research demonstrated that the ignitability of homes and structures is often the decisive factor in wildfire disasters, rather than the behavior of the wildfire itself.<\/p>\n

That idea challenges a common assumption. Many people believe homes are destroyed primarily because a large wildfire directly engulfs them. In reality, homes and infrastructure are often vulnerable because of conditions immediately surrounding the structure. Cohen’s research has helped shift the focus toward creating ignition-resistant homes and fire-adapted communities.<\/p>\n

For Texas landowners, this means wildfire preparedness is not solely about what happens across the landscape. It is also about what happens within a few feet of homes, barns, equipment sheds, livestock facilities, and other critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The Growing Importance of Preparedness<\/strong>
\nTexas has experienced several significant wildfire events in recent years, including fires that moved quickly across rangelands under extreme weather conditions. As drought, heat, and wind combine to create elevated fire danger, reducing vulnerability before a wildfire occurs becomes increasingly important.<\/p>\n

While ranchers cannot control weather conditions, they can influence how prepared their operations are when fire occurs.<\/p>\n

Preparation may include:<\/p>\n