INNOVATION March-April 2022

F E A T U R E

ENGINEERING DESIGN MAY PLAY A ROLE IN MITIGATING WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE FIRES

A collection of lessons learned, best practices, and construction norms about wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires is increasingly taking shape and could influence approaches to design throughout BC in the coming years. The push towards a series of cross-discipline standards comes as Canadian municipalities grapple with recent losses and evacuations: according to the International Association of Wildland Fire, 2,400 structures, at an insured value of about $4.5 billion, were lost over the last 10 years. The 2016 Horse River fire in Fort McMurray, AB—one of the most expensive natural disasters in Canadian history—destroyed almost 1,600 structures and forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people.

The summer of 2020 California River and Carmel Fires destroyed 103 structures

and damaged an additional 20. P hoto : d avid a l itman / shutterstoCk . Com

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