As part of a test, the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety exposed two homes to a shower of embers. The embers ignited wood mulch in a garden adjacent to the home on the left, spreading to the walls. The home on the right was built with fire-resistant techniques, including the landscaping, and didn’t catch fire.

In the last 100 years, wildfire threats have grown from occasional incidents to an entire season of worry for at-risk neighborhoods ⁠— and there are more of those every day. Wildfires used to be a concern only for the drier western states, but as temperatures rise globally, more and more of the country finds itself at risk.

Since wildfire growth shows no sign of slowing down, saving lives and property means the demand for innovations in wildfire defenses is expanding as well. Click here to read how new building materials, architectural detailing, landscaping choices and even road design are helping adaptable communities battle the blaze.