I can see this being picked up by the right as an argument against walkable urbanism (“all that density is a deathtrap!”) and in favour of the car-dependent quarter-acre-block sprawl that is Our Sacred Way Of Life.

In reality, the thin boundary between forested country and built-up areas is the problem. A solution would be to have farmland as a buffer around the cities, as pastures and fields of crops don’t burn as well as either.