The relationship between development in the wildland urban interface (WUI) and suppression costs has received increasing attention from policy makers in recent years; however, few empirical studies have addressed the issue. Data from 58 wildfires that burned in Oregon and Washington during the 2002 fire season and 2000 census data are used to examine the relationship between proximity of houses and suppression costs. Results fail to show a relationship between either total housing or housing density and suppression cost. Several possible explanations of this negative result are offered.