NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - 52

Research by Casey Grant

THE FIRE
PROTECTION
RESEARCH
FOUNDATION

Modern Scourge
LIKE URBAN CONFLAGRATIONS A CENTURY AGO, WILDFIRE IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN
SETTINGS POSES ONE OF THE GREATEST FIRE CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME

s we were a century ago,

including three through the Fire Protectoday we are in the early
tion Research Foundation. This includes
phases of dealing with a
a project called "Fire Ember Production
major fire problem. And
from Wildland and Structural Fuels,"
we have a long way to go
which is an effort to better understand the
to get it under control.
role that embers play in wildfire spread.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s,
Understanding how embers are created,
the problem was urban conflagrations,
travel, and start new fires will lead to more
which leveled all or parts of big cities
fire-resistant building construction, better
like Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and
land management policies, and enhanced
Baltimore. Today, suburban communifirefighting techniques.
ties tucked within the wildland/urban
Another Foundation project, titled the
interface (WUI) are at most risk of expe"e-Murray" project, uses the Fort McMurriencing large-scale fire devastation. In
ray Fire as a backdrop to study the
Destructive wildland
fact, the magnitude of today's wildland
complexities of wildfire evacuations. The
fire events are
fire events are comparable to the cityproject hopes to produce specifications
increasing in
wide conflagrations of the last century,
for open-source simulation tools, which
frequency and
with single fires capable of consuming
will one day lead to a system that can
magnitude, with many
thousands of structures and resulting in
forecast the progress of a wildfire based
rising to historic
scores of fatalities.
on many real-time factors, and in turn
proportions. In the
Alarmingly, these destructive wildland
the effectiveness of various pedestrian
U.S., nine of the top 10
fire events are increasing in frequency
and traffic responses. On the firefightcostliest WUI events
and magnitude, with many rising to hising side, a project called "Advanced Fire
of all time have
toric proportions. In the U.S., nine of the
Blocking Materials for Enhanced Perforoccurred since 1990.
top 10 costliest WUI events of all time
mance in Wildland Fire Shelters" seeks
have occurred since 1990. This includes
to optimize the fire shelters wildland firethe October fires in Northern California,
fighters use when trapped in a wildfire
where cumulative property losses are
to make these vital life-saving shelters as
expected to exceed $3 billion, and where
lightweight and rugged as possible.
42 people died. In 2016, the Fort McMurray Fire in Western
There are many aspects of the WUI that are different from
Canada also resulted in direct property losses over $3 billion, other fire protection applications, and much more will need to
with more than 3,000 structures lost and two fatalities. In terms be done to increase our understanding of this problem if we are
of property loss, both rival the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which to succeed. For instance, controlling a fuel load that literally
resulted in $3.3 billion in losses in 2015 dollars, according to grows on its own and requires active management practices
NFPA's research department.
is not a problem we face in the urban environment. How a
Over the years, society has largely eliminated the occurrence wildfire moves and spreads is subject to a daunting number
of massive urban conflagrations through codes, standards, of variables and still is far from being modeled with precise
research, education, and technology. Now, we must do the same accuracy. We obviously have a long road and much effort ahead
in the WUI. One of the keys to our success will be gaining a of us, but we will tackle it with the same commitment shown
better understanding of the problem through research.
on the urban side more than a century ago.
Knowledge gaps in wildfire abound, but there are multiple research projects underway to address some of them, Casey Grant is executive director of the Fire Protection Research Foundation.

52 | NFPA JOURNAL * J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8

MICHAEL HOEWELER

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2018