Only a bit past halfway through, and, 2026 has been no stranger to wildfires. Unfortunately, neither has it been immune from their effects on the environment, public health, and the electric grid. From major decreases in air quality to disruptions in critical infrastructure, fires have imposed a substantial cost to communities and the foundations that citizens rely on every day.
As of the mid August 2026, more than 46,000 individually tallied wildfires have burned approximately 6.4 million acres across the US, while 4,200 fires have burned over 10 million acres in Canada. The risks are expanding as more homes, businesses, and infrastructure systems are built in suburban and rural areas, where development meets flammable vegetation. Managing that vegetation is often a neglected policy priority and can compete with other priorities, including, in some cases environmental protection regimes themselves.
One of the main issues that is discussed surrounding wildfires is public health, especially from the poor air quality from large amounts of air pollutants. Plumes of smoke can travel long distances and create widespread public health risk, far from the site of the fire. In the short-term, effects from breathing in this smoke can cause both respiratory and cardiovascular issues and is especially threatening for pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised. While smoke eventually clears, exposure to air pollutants can have long-term health effects. The growing reach of smoke means that wildfire preparations must include air-quality warnings, shelters for clean air, and protections for outdoor workers, expanding the area of effect beyond evacuations near the fire itself. These begin to have obvious – if sometimes indirect – implications for infrastructure.
The most obvious infrastructure considerations may be evacuation routes, emergency management and communications infrastructure, and critical healthcare systems. But there are many additional considerations policymakers must consider before any sparks ignite – both to mitigate costs when fires do occur and to prevent them in the first place.
Once a fire has broken out, smoke generated in the brush may reduce the amount of sunlight that is able to reach solar panels. In 2020, researchers from Colorado State University found that typical solar resources fell by 11-17 percent due to the California wildfires. Smoke can also make solar generation more difficult to forecast, forcing grid operators to obtain replacement power with minimal notice, which could drive up prices.
Wildfires and the electric grid have a mutually destructive relationship. While wildfires can significantly damage electric systems such as power lines, utility equipment, and more, fires can also be created and spread by these electric systems. It was found that between 2016 and 2020, 10 percent of wildfires in California were actually triggered by electrical power. During periods of extreme heat, surging electricity demand places additional strain on aging generators and transmission equipment. Transmission lines are often the source of wildfires themselves, and fires that are started from power lines are often larger and possibly more destructive. Clearing vegetation is a constant operation and maintenance cost, which for remote regions and long transmission corridors can be delayed or strained due to weather, manpower, costs, and even simple awareness due to different vegetation growth rates.
A notable problem with attempting to prevent wildfires caused by electric infrastructure is that these efforts often result in power outages. Preventive measures often include intentionally shutting power off to reduce the likelihood of fires being started by the aging electrical infrastructure. While this may be the safest option, this method also causes economic losses, costing the US billions of dollars. Loss of electricity can be especially dangerous for people who rely on powered medical equipment, refrigerated medications, air conditioning, or reliable communications during an emergency. Prolonged outages can create financial losses for businesses and delay the delivery of essential goods, even after the immediate threat has passed.
Updating the electric infrastructure is one solution being discussed to address the rising threats and concerns of wildfires. Modernizing electrical generators, power lines, and other equipment can reduce the risk of these infrastructures failing, therefore reducing the chance of a fire being sparked from them. Utilities can use risk-based vegetation management, detailed weather monitoring, stronger poles and conductors, faster fault detection, and undergrounding to reduce the likelihood that a single failure becomes a major fire. Undergrounding can be costly, but new lines built underground are lower cost than relocating overhead lines. These would join the existing estimated 50 million miles of buried pipelines, cables, and wires already below ground across the United States, which while wildfires become far less of a risk, new risks from excavation damage are created.
AI detection is a newer technology that is also being discussed as a preventative measure for these fires, while distributed fiber optic sensing is capable of detecting changes in temperature near a utility right of way and alerting the infrastructure operators of a fire in real time.
The myriad solutions will need significant investment, but improvements will protect the economy, people, and vital infrastructures from wildfires in the long-run. Because the costs and effectiveness of these measures vary by location, utilities and regulators should prioritize investments according to ignition risk, potential consequences, terrain, equipment condition, and the number of customers protected. However, none of these solutions are permanent fixes, nor can they completely prevent wildfires from occurring – many of which are natural events.
The effects that come from wildfires not only impost costs for communities and structures directly close to the fire, but the smoke can travel hundreds of miles, greatly expanding the number of people affected, even if indirectly. Effective planning requires coordination among utilities, emergency managers, government agencies, public-health departments, regulators, and the communities most exposed to fire and power outages.
Overall, wildfires are not only an environmental problem, but also an increasingly significant economic, infrastructure, and public health concern. As wildfires have been spreading across Canada and the U.S., preventative measures and technologies may be necessary to protect both infrastructure and communities. Wildfire risk cannot be eliminated, but preventing foreseeable hazards can prevent fires escalating into cascading into public-health, infrastructure, and economic disasters.
Written by Isabel Dean, Public Policy Intern
The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) is an independent, national research and educational organization. An innovative think tank, Aii explores the intersection of economics, law, and public policy in the areas of climate, damage prevention, energy, infrastructure, innovation, technology, and transportation.