These are the counties of the West that contain many small cities, as well as the bedroom communities for the larger cities. They include Santa Fe, NM; Bend, OR; Missoula, MT; Colorado Springs, CO; Ft. Collins, CO; Durango, CO; Provo, UT; Prescott, AZ; and the towns to the north of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The communities are surrounded by big natural landscapes that have a history of fire. There is abundant federal land close to these communities, so fuel treatments and applying buffer zones can be advantageous. Additionally, because of the higher demographic advantage, there are more local resources to contribute to these efforts. Due to the combination of the high risk of fire and the higher economic capacity of the counties, there are more options available to consider, but investments to control fuels and contain fire will continue to be large.

Example of a Typical County — Yavapai County, Arizona: This county has regular large fires nearly every year on federal and non-federal land. This county includes the town of Prescott.