Cascading hazards in lake county

The overarching goal of this multidisciplinary project is to reduce the vulnerability of disadvantaged communities to the impacts of wildfire-related cascading hazards. Wildfire activity is worsening in several regions, including the Western United States. Wildfires are commonly superimposed or followed by a chain of cascading geohazards (e.g., debris flow, landslides), which further impact nearby communities and the built environment.  The impact is more pronounced in disadvantaged communities.  Preparedness is commonly the largest aspect of community resilience to wildfires and the associated cascading hazards but is typically isolated to single events. Cascading hazards place disadvantaged communities at risk for disastrous outcomes, which are projected to worsen with climate variability and change.

The project involves collaboration with California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) and will focus on Lake County, CA, which has vulnerable communities and growing multi-hazard threats. While applied to a sequence of drought, wildfires, landslides, and flooding, this framework is directly translatable to any set of cascading hazards and will advance the state-of-knowledge to go beyond hazard evaluation that typically focuses on a single event.

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