Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The 2020 Creek Fire burned ~380,000 acres in California's Sierra Nevada, destroying over 850 of 3,002 structures. Using pre-fire lidar data, we examined how near-structure fuel configurations influenced housing loss/survival across three fire stages. During extreme fire weather, local fuel configurations had minimal impact on structure survival but significantly influenced outcomes during moderate conditions. Vegetation 1-2 m tall at 10-30 meters from the home was most correlated with structure loss/survival. Our findings also suggest that the impact of vegetation depends on fire behavior and changes across various fire stages.
Hannah Redford is a PhD candidate in the School of Environment and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. Her research leverages lidar technology to characterize subcanopy fuels and vegetation structure, examining fire impacts across multiple scales from individual homes in wildland-urban interface communities to landscape-level vegetation patterns in Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests. By combining remote sensing methods, ecology, and spatial modeling, she informs essential management strategies.
The 2020 Creek Fire burned ~380,000 acres in California's Sierra Nevada, destroying over 850 of 3,002 structures. Using pre-fire lidar data, we examined how near-structure fuel configurations influenced housing loss/survival across three fire stages. During extreme fire weather, local fuel configurations had minimal impact on structure survival but significantly influenced outcomes during moderate conditions. Vegetation 1-2 m tall at 10-30 meters from the home was most correlated with structure loss/survival. Our findings also suggest that the impact of vegetation depends on fire behavior and changes across various fire stages.
Hannah Redford is a PhD candidate in the School of Environment and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. Her research leverages lidar technology to characterize subcanopy fuels and vegetation structure, examining fire impacts across multiple scales from individual homes in wildland-urban interface communities to landscape-level vegetation patterns in Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests. By combining remote sensing methods, ecology, and spatial modeling, she informs essential management strategies.
