95bFM Experts call for more attention to urban fire planning amidst the climate crisis
11 March, 2025
Interview by Sasha Mengazetdinov, adapted by Sara Mckoy
Massey University’s Bruce Glavovic says Aotearoa needs to pay more attention to urban fire planning due to the increasing concern of blazes associated with the climate crisis. Image: New Zealand fire danger sign (2010) - Wikimedia Commons
As the climate crisis continues, many are concerned about the implications wildfires will have heading forward.
This year alone, in Los Angeles, United States, a series of wildfires in January destroyed over 18,000 buildings; in Japan, fires have burned at least 2100 hectares of forest in Ofunato, and in Argentina, more than 35,000 hectares of forest, farmland, and pine plantations have been scorched.
Research published in the Nature Cities Journal this month says that as temperatures continue to rise, the prevalence of wild and urban fires will increase and with it, the number of fire-related deaths.
Particularly, the study found New Zealand has the strongest link between fires and global warming, which, if unregulated, could result in 40% more city fires by 2100 with warming of over 4°C.
Professor in the School of People, Environment and Planning at Massey University, Bruce Glavovic, told 95bFM’s The Wire that our response to wildfires needs a more proactive approach.
“It's not enough to rely on effective responses by fire and emergency management … We need to have a conversation with fire and emergency management, land use planners, community development specialists and the like, so that we [can] avoid putting people in harm's way.”
Glavovic raises concerns about the impact of wildfires in New Zealand over recent years, such as the fires in the Port Hills in 2017 and 2024 and the forest fires in Waipoua earlier this month
This follows Fire and Emergency revealing crews have had to respond to 115 vegetation fires since January 1st this year.
Glavovic links increased fire prevalence to an insufficient global response to the climate crisis.
“Global warming is with us; it's a here and now problem, and our continued emission of greenhouse gases is making [the crisis] worse and worse.”
The independent scientific project Climate Action Tracker ranks New Zealand as highly insufficient regarding our national climate policies and action.
Glavovic says that with the United States’ recent departure from their commitments to the Paris Agreement and insufficient urgency given to climate measures internationally, effective measures against climate-related natural disasters — especially fires, are evermore critical.
Regarding urban fire planning, Glavovic suggests effective reactive processes and proactive considerations to reduce avoidable climate crisis risks.
“Do not allow new [buildings] in places that are going to flood or that are on a fault line and prone to seismic events or at that wildland urban interface where perhaps there's a pronounced risk because of forestry or some other land use.”
Glavovic highlights the need to develop professional, community-based and institutionalised practices that drive urgent and compelling progress on New Zealand’s wildfire planning and response.
