Reimagining Wildfire-Resilient Infrastructure in America

Photo credit: Mike Lewelling, Public Domain Mark 1.0

President Biden’s recent unveiling of the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan renews emphasis on improvements to underperforming infrastructure. As the U.S. enters warmer months, wildfires and wildfire prevention will resume a chief position among infrastructure concerns.

2020 was the worst wildfire season experienced by America’s western states in 70 years. Thousands of Americans evacuated their homes throughout the season, and residents in and around wildfire-stricken areas endured air quality that ranked among the worst in the world.

Last week, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) hosted an ASCE Interchange interview with Geoff Coleman, a wildfire resilience expert and the vice president of California-based engineering firm BKF Engineers. Coleman spoke with Interchange’s Casey Dinges on key considerations for the future of wildfire-resilient infrastructure in America.

Coleman stressed the importance of public education on wildfire risks and mitigation strategies in fire-prone areas. He recommended that individuals consider evacuation routes and defensible space—the area around a structure designed to reduce fire danger—in home planning and maintenance, and suggested alternatives to traditional grass yards like rock gardens and drought-resistant, high moisture succulents.

More significantly, Coleman stressed the role that civil engineers and appointed officials must play in limiting community fire risks. When fires take hold of a wildland area, entire communication systems, water supplies, electric grids, and transportation networks are threatened. Coordination among emergency responders can be interrupted through the destruction of remotely located communication towers. Burning plastics and industrial materials may contaminate water that is then drawn back into municipal water supplies. An inability to isolate electric services can lead to mass shutdowns.

In order to diminish these possibilities, engineers and community leaders can focus on increasing defensible space around essential structures like water towers, cell towers, and power stations. Better yet, these essential structures can be located outside of fire-prone areas. Roads should be designed with evacuation, response, and reconstruction in mind: paved with compliant turnarounds, multiple points of egress, and widths in excess of forty feet to enable transportation of sufficient water supplies during a fire event and construction equipment in the aftermath.

Lastly, Coleman stressed the importance of introducing fire safety and prevention early into the design process through the involvement of fire code officials. The combined vigilance of engineers and their communities is required to create infrastructure that prioritizes public safety in wildfire-prone areas.

To view ASCE Interchange’s interview with Geoff Coleman, click here.