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Over 500 Western Communities At Risk For Camp Fire-Level Wildfires

The Camp Fire, which burned more than 150,000 acres north of Sacramento last year, was California’s most destructive and deadliest wildfire.

But a new analysis shows more than 500 communities in the west have a higher potential for wildfire than the town of Paradise, where the Camp Fire started.

The analysis was done by the Arizona Republic and USA Today and looks at about 5,000 smaller communities across 11 Western states, considering factors such as residents’ age, the number of mobile homes, how authorities can alert residents to an emergency and how well residents could evacuate their town.

Dennis Wagner is an investigative reporter with the Arizona Republic and USA Today and worked on the project. He joined The Show to talk about why they looked into this and what they found.

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Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.