Webinar: Living in Fire Adapted Ecosystems – Our Built Environment

Event Description:

Many urban residents are wondering “what can I do to better protect my home from wildfire, and what are city and county officials considering in terms of wildfire survivability of our built environment?” In this discussion, local and national wildfire professionals like Wildfire Partners, and researchers out of UC Davis and Oregon State will touch on the factors that best protect structures in wildland urban environments, and innovative engineering and building materials we can all consider.

This webinar is part two of a three part learning series. After the recent Marshall Fire, The Boulder Watershed Collective in partnership with The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative and The Center for Sustainable Landscapes and Communities wants to be responsive to the voices and concerns we have heard from local communities. In this learning series, we hope to shine a light on potential impacts and adaptations moving forward from this devastating fire. Sign up for one or all three of these events to learn about what you can do to adapt to living in fire prone grassland and forested ecosystems.

To register visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/webinar-living-in-fire-adapted-ecosystems-our-built-environment-tickets-288174175717?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

The recording of this webinar will be available here: https://www.boulderwatershedcollective.com/livingwithfirebuiltenvironmentwebinar

For questions or comments, email Erin Fried: erin@boulderwatershedcollective.org

About the Speakers:

• Jim Webster (Program Coordinator, Wildfire Partners) – Jim and his team provide education on how to mitigate homes against the threat of wildfires to help mountain and foothills homeowners in Boulder County, Colorado . Upon acceptance to their program, a mitigation specialist will visit a homeowner’s property to do an assessment, and sends a comprehensive report recommending actions to take. These programs are part of Boulder County’s Community Planning & Permit Department, a nationally recognized model for wildfire mitigation that is incorporated into Boulder County’s building code.

• Dr. Michele Barbato (Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis) – He is also co-director and co-founder of the UC Davis Climate Adaptation Research Center, and director of the CITRIS Climate Initiative of the CITRIS and the Banatao Institute. He received his Summa Cum Laude “Laurea” degree in Civil Engineering from the Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, Italy) in 2002, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering in 2005 and 2007, respectively, at the University of California, San Diego. He is a licensed PE in Louisiana and in Italy. Dr. Barbato is an expert in both traditional and innovative construction methodologies and materials, with particular emphasis on new recycled and green materials. His research includes modeling, analysis, and design of structural and infrastructure systems subject to earthquake, wind, storm surge, and wildfire hazards. He is active in the development of performance-based methodologies in earthquake, wind, and hurricane engineering, as well as in multihazard applications. Dr. Barbato’s research also embraces nonlinear finite element modeling and analysis of structural systems, random vibration theory, structural reliability analysis, multihazard assessment and mitigation under current and changing climate conditions, and life-cycle cost optimization of resilient/sustainable structures subject to multiple hazards. Dr. Barbato’s research aims to develop safer, economic, and more rational design procedures, accounting for natural and man-made hazards, which support the development of sustainable infrastructures and more resilient communities under current and changing climate conditions. He is the author of more than 200 technical publications. He received the 2007 ICASP10 Overseas Student Scholarship, the 2009 ASCE Moisseiff award, the 2011 European Association of Structural Dynamics Junior Research Prize, the ISSE-12 Best Paper Award for Young Experts, the 2020 ASCE Sacramento Section Fredrick Panhost Structural Engineer Award, and the 2020 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, as well as several teaching and service awards. He was elected SEI Fellow and EMI Fellow in 2019, and ASCE Fellow in 2021. Dr. Barbato has served as the Chair of the ASCE EMI Dynamics Committee in 2017-2020 and of the ASCE SEI Multihazard Mitigation Committee in 2018-2021, and is currently the Chair of the ASCE SEI Performance Based Design of Structures Committee, an associate member of the ASCE 7-22 Wind Loads Subcommittee, and a member of the EMI Board of Governors. He is an associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Architectural Engineering, ASCE Natural Hazards Review, ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems: Part A-Civil Engineering and Part B-Mechanical Engineering, and the specialty editor in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Engineering for the Journal of Research on Engineering Structures and Materials. You can find the abstract to his presentation for this webinar here.

• Dr. Erica Fischer (Assistant Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University) – Dr. Fischer’s research interests revolve around innovative approaches to improve the resilience and robustness of structural systems affected by natural and man-made hazards. This includes performance-based design approaches of structural systems to decrease the environmental impact of the built environment on the natural environment. Dr. Fischer’s focus is on steel and composite systems and connections. These research interests are implemented through both large-scale experimental testing and numerical modeling approaches.