Wildfires, also called wildland fires, are unplanned, uncontrolled blazes that consume large swaths of natural terrain, like forests, plains, and prairies. Causing billions of dollars in damage each year around the world, wildfires are a threat to property (particularly at the wildland-urban interface), their atmospheric emissions are a threat to health, and the runoff that can follow fires can pollute waterways. In many areas, climate change has led to more widespread, more frequent, and more severe wildfires. WPI is known internationally for its research on wildfires.

WPI’s experts on wildfires can talk about:

• how such fires start and spread (including how firebrands can seed new wildfires),
• how wildfires impact people and property,
• how to study wildfires in the laboratory and the field,
• how to make structures more resilient to fire.

We are home to the first-in-nation fire protection engineering program and only one of three in the U.S. and our experts on fire protection engineering can speak to the cutting-edge research underway.

Read our explainer on wildfires.