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Resilient development

Resilient development integrates wildfire risk into the way communities are planned, built and managed, reducing exposure and vulnerability before disasters occur.

Preventing new development in the highest-risk areas, maintaining defensible space around settlements, protecting critical infrastructure and preserving natural buffers can all help reduce the likelihood that wildfires become catastrophic disasters.

Resilient building and mitigation practices are a cornerstone of this approach. Fire-resistant construction materials, ember-resistant design, appropriate roofing and ventilation systems, and the use of building codes tailored to wildfire hazards can significantly improve the survivability of homes and public infrastructure.

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Documents and publications
WUI structure/parcel/community fire hazard mitigation methodology

This report documents the methodology and addresses the critical issues of mitigation effectiveness at the parcel and community level. It gives an implementable path forward by considering the spatial relationships between fuels, exposures, and hardening.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety
Update
NIST offers first-of-a-kind guidance for holistic home and community wildfire protection

Developed by fire safety experts at NIST, CAL FIRE and IBHS, the guidance provides dozens of protective actions — and the context in which each should be taken — all backed by the latest fire science.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
Man on the phone looking at a wildfire in a residential area in California, USA (2021).
Update
How to build wildfire-resistant communities on the wildland fringe

This article presentes some key strategies that communities and anyone building in the wildland-urban interface need to consider. Research shows that every $1 spent on prevention can save at least $6 in emergency rescue and recovery later.

Conversation Media Group, the
Disaster management team in front of a burned shop in New Delhi, India (2021)
Update
The house that doesn’t burn

More than 2.7 million Californians live in places with a high or extremely high risk of wildfire, as of 2007. That number is expected to increase, as the state is now updating its Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps.

University of California, Davis
Burned mobile home park in Phoenix Talent Medford, Oregon (2020)
Research briefs
AI system developed by Stanford researchers identifies buildings damaged by wildfire

A deep learning approach to classifying buildings with wildfire damage may help responders focus their recovery efforts and offer more immediate information to displaced residents.

Stanford University
Documents and publications
Bushfire resilient building guidance for Queensland homes

The guideline identifies a suite of best practice building and landscaping measures, using tailored, site-specific solutions to adapt buildings for bushfire resilience. The guideline is based on extensive research into the attack mechanisms of bushfires

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Queensland Government
Update
Bushfire season is back, so what did we learn about protecting homes?

Llast weekend’s heat wave ushered in the start of Australia’s next bushfire season. Do existing construction regulations prove tough enough?

Fifth Estate, the
Update
90% of buildings in bushfire-prone areas aren’t built to survive fires. A national policy can start to fix this

It’s clear Australia has a lot to learn about managing risk and the most effective strategy is better planning where and how we live and build.

Conversation Media Group, the
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