ǸԹ

Search

Experts available: Colorado wildfire risk, air quality, recovery and resilience

Wildfire risk in Colorado is increasingly a year-round concern, driven by factors including high winds, dry vegetation and development near fire-prone landscapes. CU ǸԹ experts are available to discuss wildfire behavior and prediction, grassland fire risk, smoke and indoor air quality, infrastructure, insurance and long-term community and ecosystem recovery.

Understanding and predicting wildfire behavior

Peter Hamlington, professor of mechanical engineering, can discuss how wildfires move and spread under different conditions. His research focuses on the factors that influence wildfire behavior, including wind, precipitation and vegetation.

Fire risk and resilience

, fire risk and forest resilience project manager at Earth Lab, oversees large-scale research on wildfire risk, ecological disturbance and ecosystem resilience. He studies why some fires spread rapidly and cause major damage, how ecosystems recover afterward and what that means for future fire risk to communities.

, research associate and director of Earth Lab at CU ǸԹ, can speak to how scientists use data—from satellites to climate models—to understand wildfire risk, impacts on communities and ecosystems, and strategies for long-term resilience. Print interviews preferred.

Reducing wildfire risk near grasslands

Katharine Suding, professor of distinction in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), is working on ways to reduce grassland fire risk without sacrificing biodiversity or soil carbon storage. Her work includes several pilot projects in the ǸԹ County area.

Wildfire smoke and indoor air quality

Joost de Gouw, professor of chemistry and researcher with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), can discuss the sources and chemical transformations of air pollutants from wildfires in both outdoor and indoor environments. His research found that harmful air pollutants lingered in homes for weeks following the Marshall Fire.

  • 𲹻:

Underinsurance and recovery costs

Emily Gallagher ԻTony Cookson, professors of finance at the Leeds School of Business, can discuss a growing risk for homeowners: underinsurance. Research analyzing claims from Colorado’s 2021 Marshall Fire found that 74% of affected homeowners were underinsured, with many facing six-figure shortfalls.

Infrastructure and water systems

Brad Wham, assistant research professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, is an engineer who studies how water pipelines and other “lifelines” can maintain their functionality during natural hazards, such as earthquakes and wildfires. In 2022, he co-led a team thatstudied the impacts of the Marshall Fire on buildings and infrastructure to understand how engineers can mitigate and prevent losses in the future.

Water Quality

Cresten Mansfeldt, assistant professor of environmental engineering, has led a small team of researchers at CU ǸԹ to measure impacts on local water quality in the Coal Creek waterway and ecosystem in the wake of the fire. The development of many community partnerships in parallel to this work also led to the detailing all of the results from the campaign.