We are not apart from nature, but a part of nature.

Hardening your home is the most important thing you can do to protect it from wildland/urban fire. This is a five foot noncombustible bubble around, above, and even below your home! Things to look out for include: modern roof, covered gutters, double pane windows, no firewood on your deck, etc. For (sub)urban homeowners who don't have defensible space, home hardening will be your top priority.

This is your lawn and garden space. In this zone, you still want to avoid highly flammable plants or mulches that could have a tall flame within reach of your home. If you have excitable plants like junipers, just keep them in the outer edges of this zone. Keep this area trimmed up and free of unnecessary hazards like wood piles, trash cans, stacked construction materials, or vehicles/boats. 

*Unlike these images, keep potted plants away from the sides of your home.

Few homeowners in western states have a home on a half acre lot - the size you need to ensure the perfect amount of defensible space (assuming you're right square in the middle of the lot with equal spacing all the way around). On your average one acre lot, or city block, you have 4-10 homes. In high density urban areas, it can be 20 homes. That doesn't give you the space you need to protect you from anything, let alone jumping flames and radiant heat.

Technically defined as 1-30 structures (cars, homes, sheds) per square mile, these homes now have the advantage. It is much easier to remove some plants than it is to remove some neighboring houses.... 

Homes in this zone can harden their homes and have adequate defensible space, allowing them a significantly higher chance of survival. Less cooperation is needed between neighbors.

60,000+ communities and approximately 115 Million Americans live in the wildland urban interface. 

Technically defined as 30-250 structures per square mile, and/or communities within 1.5 miles of wildlands, it was incorrectly assumed to only apply to rural forest communities for many decades. We are now realizing that more communities are risk than we ever thought possible. Cooperation between neighbors, and community stakeholders, is essential.

Though still part of the Wildland Urban Interface, high density urban areas were always considered safe from wildfire because they were "in town" and not part of the "wild" or "rural" areas.

Early fuel and fire behavior models always showed fires magically stopping at the urban boundaries, leading us to this false sense of security, when the reality is, in extreme fire events, houses are still fuel, response teams get overwhelmed, and these areas become our most dangerous infernos.