The National Wildland/ Urban Interface Fire Protection Program originally used the term "interface" in a generic way to describe any area where potentially dangerous combustible wildland fuels were found adjacent to combustible homes and other structures. As uncontrolled fires in these wildland/urban interface areas became more of a concern to fire protection agencies and affected residents, the term came to be more narrowly defined. NFPA 299, Standard for Protection of Life and Property from Wildfire, 1991 edition, defined wildland/ urban interface as "an area where development and wildland fuels meet at a well-defined boundary. Meanwhile another term, wildland/urban intermix, served to differentiate a more specific type of area. NFPA 299 defines this intermix as "an area where development and wildland fuels meet with no clearly defined boundary." The diagram shown here from NFPA 299 illustrates both terms, showing an interface area as the first wave of structures adjacent to dense wildland vegetation. The intermix areas show as individual homes or pockets of structures completely surrounded by wildland fuels. Each type of wildland/urban area has unique fire protection considerations, but both represent a single trend of people wanting to live in scenic and less densely populated surroundings. Throughout this site the generic term wildland/urban interface is used to describe both interface and intermix areas. View the "Everyone's Responsibility" Video in REAL Streaming format. (Requires the Real Player) Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |