Reston, Va. — The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has launched a major initiative to develop cross‑disciplinary Wildfire Resilience Resources, following strong interest and participation in the Exploratory Meeting on wildfire resilience held by the ASCE Standards Office in April 2025. The meeting assembled a broad coalition of practitioners and researchers across ASCE institutes who emphasized the urgent need for unified, interdisciplinary wildfire resilience resources and highlighted the growing complexities of wildfire risk due to climate change, expanding hazard zones, and increasing infrastructure vulnerabilities.
“This initiative represents one of ASCE’s most far‑reaching resilience efforts,” says Teresa Metcalfe, Director of ASCE’s Standards Office, “bringing together leaders in civil engineering, wildfire science, utilities, emergency management, infrastructure operations, forensic engineering, insurance, ecology, and academia to address the growing national need for unified wildfire resilience guidance and chart a path toward wildfire‑resilient communities and infrastructure systems.
During the April meeting, participants emphasized the need for cohesive resources addressing infrastructure performance, risk and exposure modeling, community and evacuation planning, utility system impacts, environmental considerations, and long‑term community recovery. They also noted that wildfire impacts now extend well beyond traditional WUI boundaries, requiring national, multi‑sector collaboration.
“Wildfire resilience can no longer be approached in silos,” says David Totman, Chair, Wildfire Resources Strategy Committee. “The challenges of expanding hazard zones, interconnected infrastructure systems, and long‑term community impacts demand collaboration across domains. By bringing multiple disciplines together, this initiative is laying the groundwork for the unified guidance practitioners urgently need to protect people, ecosystems, and infrastructure.”
Following the meeting, ASCE created the Wildfire Resources Strategy Committee (WRSC), which held its first meeting on 27 October 2025. The WRSC is responsible for identifying gaps, defining priorities, and outlining product pathways for future wildfire-related resources.
To support this mission, the committee has established three working groups:
- Land Use, Development & Infrastructure Resilience Planning
- Hazard, Risk & Exposure Engineering Frameworks
- Human, Social & Lifecycle Impacts of Wildfire
The WRSC meets twice a month to develop a strategy for ASCE wildfire resources development. The strategy will shape which resource products will be developed by future task groups, how they are scoped, and how they align with national resilience and multihazard frameworks. To learn more about the committee’s work and to participate in upcoming wildfire resources task groups, contact Amanda Myers.
About the American Society of Civil Engineers
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 160,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.