Understanding the detailed physical and social context surrounding wildfire and WUI fire fatalities is crucial in terms of ensuring effective emergency management policy and practice. Studies of fatalities over prolonged periods ensure changing trends in vulnerabilities and exposure are identified (e.g., Haynes et al. 2010; Molina- Terrén et al. 2019). There have been a number of catastrophic fires leading to high numbers of fatalities in recent years, including the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia, with 173 fatalities (Teague et al. 2010); the 2017 Portugal forest fires, with 66 fatalities in Pedrógão Grande (Viegas et al. 2017; Molina-Terrén et al. 2019) and 51 fatalities in the Central Region (Viegas et al. 2019); the 2018 Camp Fire in California, with 85 fatalities (Cal Fire 2019); and the 2018 Mati forest fire in Greece, with 102 fatalities (Xanthopoulos and Athanasiou 2019). However, detailed studies of wildfire fatalities are not common and remain country specific. In this contribution, the authors use the word bushfire in Australia, wildfire in the United States, and forest fire in Europe.