Enabling the Investigation of Structure Vulnerabilities to Wind- Driven Firebrand Showers in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Abstract

Wind-driven firebrand showers are a major cause of structural ignition in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires. Past firebrand investigations have not been able to quantify the vulnerabilities of structures to ignition from firebrand showers, as it is difficult to develop a measurement method to replicate wind-driven firebrand attack on structures that occur in actual WUI fires. To address this problem, research has been undertaken in an intricate area involving the quantification of structure vulnerabilities to wind-driven firebrand showers. This type of firebrand research has never been possible prior to the development of the NIST Firebrand Generator, also referred to as the NIST Dragon. Due the complexity of the WUI fire problem, great strides must be made to recruit the next generation of researchers to fire safety science from diverse backgrounds. This paper closes with a discussion of ongoing workshop activities intended to achieve this, as well as some challenges for future WUI fire research.