NCAR and GSL scientists focus on Lahaina fire to improve prediction of wildland-urban fires

Research may help with firefighting, evacuations

Scientists have successfully applied a pair of advanced computer models to simulate last year’s wildfire that devastated the Hawaiian town of Lahaina. The development could lay the groundwork for more detailed predictions of wildfires that advance into towns and cities, eventually helping with firefighting efforts and safer evacuations as well as the design of wildfire-resistant communities. GSL's Eric James was co-author on the article. Read the full article by the National Center for Atmospheric Research here.

Journal: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences

Title: “Brief communication: The Lahaina Fire disaster – how models can be used to understand and predict wildfires”

Authors: Timothy W. Juliano, Fernando Szasdi-Bardales, Neil P. Lareau, Kasra Shamsaei, Branko Kosović, Negar Elhami-Khorasani, Eric P. James, and Hamed Ebrahimian

Photo: Wikimedia Commons