Wildfire season is changing. Spokane is showing how.

Wildfires this week destroyed more than 700 buildings in the Spokane Valley, part of what's become Washington's most destructive fire season on record, with over half a million acres burned and at least 65,000 people ordered to evacuate statewide. Oregon has already broken its annual record for acreage burned, with nearly 2 million acres scorched. A dry winter, low snowpack, and early heat left the region primed to burn.

Officials point to a specific vulnerability that applies well beyond Spokane: neighborhoods built where houses meet forests and brush, known as the wildland-urban interface. This kind of development is the fastest-growing type of housing in the country, and research shows homes in these areas are more likely to burn when wildfires spread nearby. In Spokane, steep terrain, dense vegetation, and neighborhoods with only one or two roads in and out made evacuation slow and dangerous.

Some fire-prone states, including California, now require homeowners to maintain a cleared buffer around their house, called defensible space, meaning trees and shrubs are kept back from the structure. Officials say this buffer can significantly cut the odds that a wildfire ignites a home. If you live near wooded or brushy land, especially with limited road access, it's worth knowing whether your state or county has similar defensible-space rules, and whether your property's landscaping and evacuation routes currently meet them.