UC San Diego Launches Wildfire Science & Technology Commons to Combat Fire Risks

Researchers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), part of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences (SCIDS) at UC San Diego, have launched a new initiative to advance science and technology that addresses wildland fire challenges in an era of more frequent and devastating megafires.

The Wildfire Science & Technology Commons will be a central hub for data, models, computing resources, and expertise to enable wildland fire researchers to collaborate with each other and practitioners to move quickly from theoretical ideas and experimental workflows to impactful, scalable real-world solutions. It will advance firetech by quickly moving research workflows into production through a community of practice, data standards and innovation pathways centered around open data, cutting-edge science and AI.

The Wildfire Commons was initiated by the Proactive Wildfire & Environmental Sustainability Solutions (ProWESS) Center — a collaboration between UC San Diego and Los Alamos National Lab. On October 28th at 1pm PDT, a live online launch event will provide details on upcoming activities for the Wildfire Commons.

“Wildfires, especially the increasingly devastating megafires, pose serious consequences to the health of our planet,” said UC San Diego Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Corinne Peek-Asa, PhD. “Advanced sensing and analytic tools can transform our ability to mitigate, respond and recover from fires, but such efforts require broad interdisciplinary collaboration that brings research discoveries to translation, engaging leaders in government, industry and communities. The Wildfire Commons provides a platform that brings all of these essential elements together as a transformative tool.”

“Our goal is to accelerate cross-domain and cross-sector collaborations that advance solutions for a wildfire-resilient future. We are creating a community platform and marketplace for data and knowledge sharing,” said Ilkay Altintas, Chief Data Science Officer at SDSC and Co-Director of ProWESS.

The Wildfire Commons will enable researchers, innovators, and practitioners to collaborate on next-generation solutions by providing easy access to data, models, computing resources and expertise. Over the coming months, users will have the opportunity to contribute to a comprehensive catalog of valuable data and models, share innovative solutions and connect with experts across many disciplines and domains.

“The Wildfire Science & Technology Commons is an exemplar of the mission of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences to meet the critical need in modern society to transform data into actionable knowledge,” said Interim Dean and Founding Director of the Halicioğlu Data Science Institute Rajesh Gupta. “The school accelerates this translation of foundational research in order to help solve real-world problems such as climate change-related wildfires. The work of ProWESS demonstrates our purpose.”

The platform will be a hub for the wildland fire research community, spanning academic researchers, members of state and federal agencies and technologists, helping them forge coalitions and align efforts to build technology that leverages the best available data and science.

In California, 13 of the state’s largest wildfires on record have occurred since 2017, and other western states grapple with similar challenges of increasing fire intensity. Even states like Texas, Alaska and Hawaii — though not traditionally known for large fires — have experienced more frequent and intense wildfires in recent years. And beyond the sheer devastation of the burn path, many communities have faced public health impacts of smoke generated by wildfires hundreds or thousands of miles away. Immediate action using the best science and technology is needed to develop solutions to mitigate these growing threats.

The Wildfire Commons presents a new approach to facilitating scalable and sustainable applications to address the increasingly complex challenges of wildfire mitigation, response and recovery. It will bring together a community of practice that amplifies innovations in several areas of expertise:

• Data science, computing and AI
• Scientific advances in fire, smoke and ecosystem modeling, atmospheric science and hydrology
• Fire and land management, including emergency management, wildland fire mitigation, land stewardship, vegetation management and community planning
• Integrated firetech solutions and industry startups

“The Wildfire Commons will be built around easy access as a way to foster collaboration among researchers from different fields, breaking down silos and enabling diverse teams to co-create solutions that may not have been possible in isolation,” said Melissa Floca, ProWESS Center lead for Strategic Partnerships. “This central hub will remove research bottlenecks, increase equitable access and allow researchers to move quickly from theoretical ideas to impactful, scalable real-world solutions.”

This project was funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology with support from Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Representatives Juan Vargas (CA-52) and Sara Jacobs (CA-51) through the Congressional appropriations process.

“Too many communities in California have suffered the devastating impacts of wildfires, losing their homes, small businesses and their lives. That’s why we need to find creative ways to prevent and address these disasters,” said Congresswoman Jacobs.

Representative Juan Vargas said, “This new platform will be a critical hub for the fire research community and state and federal agencies while also helping fire response teams find new solutions to reduce risk and more effectively manage wildfires. I look forward to seeing it used to help keep our communities safe.”

“This devastating wildfire season reminds us that we must stay vigilant in the fight against increasingly frequent fires,” said Senator Padilla. “Keeping our communities safe requires an all-hands-on-deck effort to deploy the latest innovations in wildland firefighting technology. I’m glad to have partnered with UC San Diego and Los Alamos National Lab to secure urgently needed federal funding for this collaborative platform to share cutting edge, scalable wildfire solutions.”