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Wildfire Research Unit
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Wildfire events have been growing in frequency and intensity in California in recent years. They not only threaten public safety but have recently resulted in billions of dollars in direct and indirect damages for single events. Therefore, an integrated wildfire risk model for risk-informed decision making is an important problem that warrants immediate attention. In this center, we are developing different models for wildfire risk assessment and mitigation plans.
"California Wildfires: The Holy Fire At Lake Elsinore On August 9, 2018" by slworking2 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Team
We conduct analyses of spatial data including electric wire distribution, historic fire cases, flammability, and declivity of vegetative cover, as well as satellite images with GIS to review over 800 polygons throughout northern California and estimated whether the polygons should be added into or removed from the risk area.
The objective of the PSPS-DF is to establish a framework and criteria for hardened electric distribution circuits to remain energized (i.e., "descoped from PSPS") during PSPS conditions that is in accord with the guidelines of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
The purpose of PSPS is to mitigate the risk of utility infrastructure contributing to wildfire risk by proactively de-energizing facilities. We are developing a decision support tool that assist utilities to make better decisions.
The objective of this project is to develop and validate an egress model that predicts the likelihood of successful evacuation and estimated length of time required.
