FIRE: FireScape Nevada: Multiscale Wildfire Risk Modeling and Community-Led Planning in Nevada's Wildland-Urban Interface

Nevada System Of Higher Education, Desert Research Institute, Reno NV

Investigators

Abstract

FireScape NV helps communities prepare for and respond to wildfires by combining advanced computer modeling, local planning, and practical tools. Focused on the rapidly growing wildland-urban interface in Reno, Nevada as a case example, the project simulates how wildfire, weather, terrain, smoke, and human responses interact during real events. These simulations will guide evacuation planning, utility coordination, and fuel treatments in high-risk areas in a range of ecotone types from sagebrush to mountain forests. By working directly with emergency managers, homeowner associations, and infrastructure providers, FireScape NV ensures that the science supports real-world decisions. With partnerships that translate modeling into on-the-ground solutions, this work delivers a tested, scalable framework for wildfire adaptation that can be used nationwide. FireScape NV demonstrates how public investment in research can produce science that saves lives, protects property, and builds fire resilient communities. FireScape NV aims to advance wildfire science and mitigation through the development and application of a high-resolution, coupled fire–atmosphere–urban modeling framework. The project integrates various modeling techniques to simulate wildfire dynamics across scales, from regional meteorology to parcel-level fire behavior, incorporating variable fuels, urban morphology, smoke plume transport, and firefighting response. Scientific objectives include quantifying ember transport, smoke injection heights, suppression effectiveness, and microclimate-driven ignition pathways. The modeling system will be validated using observational and remote sensing data from the 2024 Davis Fire in Reno, NV. Scenario-based simulations will be used to evaluate system thresholds, test mitigation strategies, and inform planning for future fire conditions. FireScape NV also delivers digital decision support tools such as interactive dashboards for use in evacuation planning, utility coordination, and fuel treatment targeting across diverse ecotones. Engagement with emergency managers, HOAs, and private sector partners ensures outputs are operationally relevant. The project supports focused training in integrated fire modeling, scenario design, and stakeholder collaboration. This project is jointly funded by Fire Science Innovations through Research and Education (FIRE) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.