FIRE: FireScape Nevada: Multiscale Wildfire Risk Modeling and Community-Led Planning in Nevada's Wildland-Urban Interface

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $2,314,992 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

FireScape NV helps communities prepare for and respond to wildfires by combining advanced computer modeling, local planning, and practical tools. Focused on the rapidly growing wildland-urban interface in Reno, Nevada as a case example, the project simulates how wildfire, weather, terrain, smoke, and human responses interact during real events. These simulations will guide evacuation planning, utility coordination, and fuel treatments in high-risk areas in a range of ecotone types from sagebrush to mountain forests. By working directly with emergency managers, homeowner associations, and infrastructure providers, FireScape NV ensures that the science supports real-world decisions. With partnerships that translate modeling into on-the-ground solutions, this work delivers a tested, scalable framework for wildfire adaptation that can be used nationwide. FireScape NV demonstrates how public investment in research can produce science that saves lives, protects property, and builds fire resilient communities. FireScape NV aims to advance wildfire science and mitigation through the development and application of a high-resolution, coupled fire–atmosphere–urban modeling framework. The project integrates various modeling techniques to simulate wildfire dynamics across scales, from regional meteorology to parcel-level fire behavior, incorporating variable fuels, urban morphology, smoke plume transport, and firefighting response. Scientific objectives include quantifying ember transp

Key facts

NSF award ID
2536526
Awardee
Nevada System of Higher Education, Desert Research Institute (NV)
SAM.gov UEI
MV1JFXA4S621
PI
Amanda Keen-Zebert
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES, FIRE-Wildland Fire, INTERDISCIPLINARY PROPOSALS
Estimated total
$2,314,992
Funds obligated
$2,314,992
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
09/15/2025 → 08/31/2029