Engineering Science for the Fire Service: Advanced Training Topics in WUI Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation
The SFPE Foundation recently received a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant (FY2023) to develop an engineering science-based educational curriculum for U.S. Fire Service personnel that helps address unmet advanced training needs with respect to Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire risk assessment and mitigation. With WUI fires on the rise, more fire departments are called to engage in WUI fire prevention and protection strategies, but most have significant unmet training needs in this area. While training on the basic principles of individual asset protection – such as structural hardening, defensible space, and vegetation management – has increased among fire service personnel in the last few years, access to training on advanced topics remains lacking. Fire protection engineers can offer educational tools and resources regarding advanced topics like WUI fire dynamics, WUI fire modeling, and human behavior in WUI fires (e.g., notification and evacuation strategies). This project will assess advanced training needs that can be addressed with engineering-based resources and guidance, document best practices, develop three modular courses on these topics, and illustrate how these courses can reduce risk by addressing unmet training needs for departments across the U.S. The curriculum will be piloted at four U.S. fire departments in-person and twice virtually.
The Curriculum Consultant team that the Foundation selected includes Jamie L. McAllister, Ph.D., P.E. (Halliwell Fire Research, USA), Geri Martin, CPEng, CFEI (Halliwell Fire Research, USA), Daniel Nilsson, Ph.D. (University of Canterbury, NZ), and Andres Valencia, Ph.D. (University of Canterbury, New Zealand). The Engineering Risk Consultant that the Foundation selected is from California Polytechnic University of San Luis Obispo's Wildland-Urban Interface Institute. CalPoly SLO and WUI Institute staff working on the project include Margot McDonald, AIA, Lonny Simonian, P.E., Chris Pascual, P.E, Shantanu Kumar, Ph.D., and Denny O'Neil (Wildfire Adapted Solutions). In addition, three on-demand webinar were contracted with subject matter experts Erica Kuligowski, Ph.D. (RMIT University, Australia), Steve Gwynne, Ph.D. (University of Greenwich, United Kingdom), and David Wolf and Joseph Shellhammer (Fire Wolf LLC, USA).
This project also contributes to the Fire Service and Wildland/WUI Fires threads of the SFPE Research Roadmap.
Expansion of WUI Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation for the U.S. Fire Service Training Opportunities
The SFPE Foundation was awarded a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant (FY2024). The grant will allow the SFPE Foundation to deliver the 8-hour course "WUI Risk Assessment & Mitigation for the Fire Service", which was developed with the support of a FY2021 FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant and taught through a National Fire Academy contract to students in ten locations in 2025 and 2026.
The WUI Risk Assessment & Mitigation for the Fire Service curriculum covers the engineering science behind the risks associated with different asset and community configurations, structural components, configurations, and other features of the built environment in the WUI so that fire departments can adapt their approaches to better meet local needs. The curriculum addresses unmet training needs for a wide range of departments – regardless of their size or prior experience with WUI fires – and empowers them to adapt available resources to their own needs and thereby reduce risk in their communities.
In 2026 and 2027, the WUI Risk Assessment & Mitigation course will be presented to fire service members in eight locations across the United States. In addition, four virtual sessions will expand the reach and delivery of the training. In addition, the grant will support the travel and registration for 30 fire department personnel to attend the 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit and a dedicated follow-on presentation of the WUI Risk Assessment & Mitigation course.
The project team will include instructors from Halliwell Fire Research, Code Red Consultants, and MC Fire LLC.
This project also contributes to the Building Fires, Fire Service, and Fire Safety Systems and Wildland/WUI Fires threads of the SFPE Research Roadmap.
Evidence-to-Impact Fire Event Learning for Resilience and Sustainability: Tiered Evidence, Impact Mapping, and Storyboard-Based Knowledge Translation
Project Start Date: July 1, 2026
Expected Finish Date: December 31, 2027
As part of the SFPE Foundation’s ongoing commitment to advancing the strategic research priorities of the Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI) Working Groups, we are funding research into the in-depth analysis of fire events, specifically addressing urgent needs identified by the Resilience & Sustainability Working Group. Traditional post-fire metrics often focus exclusively on immediate casualties and direct property damage, which limits our ability to integrate fire safety into broader sustainability conversations. Funding made possible through our global GCI network allows us to support this vital research, which will recast fire events through a holistic framework to capture long-term economic, social, and environmental consequences. This work is a crucial step toward embedding fire protection into globally recognized sustainable design frameworks.
The $40,000 USD grant has been awarded to a multinational, multi-institutional team of experts spanning three continents, ensuring a global approach to post-fire analysis:
- Dr. Zhuojun Nan, PhD (Lead Principal Investigator) – Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands)
- Dr. Shuna Ni, PhD (Principal Investigator) – Assistant Professor, University of Maryland (United States)
- Dr. Natalia Flores Quiroz, PhD (Principal Investigator) – Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
Evidence-to-Impact Fire Event Learning for Resilience and Sustainability: Tiered Evidence, Impact Mapping, and Storyboard-Based Knowledge Translation will establish a repeatable methodology to quantify the full life-cycle consequences of building fires. The framework evaluates impacts across the three core pillars of sustainability: Economic Impacts, Social Impacts, and Environmental Impacts. To validate the model, the team will develop comprehensive historical case studies spanning multiple continents and occupancy types, including the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture fire (2008), the Shanghai Jiaozhou Road residential fire (2010), the Arkema Chemical Plant fire (2017), and the Paarl Print industrial fire (2009).
In addition to advancing the research priorities of the GCI, this project aligns with the Building Fires and Resilience & Sustainability threads of the SFPE Research Roadmap.