IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jchals/v16y2025i1p13-d1593806.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Systemic Drivers of Electric-Grid-Caused Catastrophic Wildfires: Implications for Resilience in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Holly Eagleston

    (Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank Blvd., Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA)

  • Michelle Bester

    (Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank Blvd., Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA)

  • Jubair Yusuf

    (Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank Blvd., Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA)

  • Adit Damodaran

    (Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank Blvd., Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA)

  • Matthew J. Reno

    (Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank Blvd., Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA)

Abstract

Wildfires are projected to increase in severity and frequency due to climate change, and the electric grid is both a cause of wildfires and is vulnerable to wildfires. Equipment from the electric grid accounts for 10% of fires burned in California and 3% of fires nationally. Recent catastrophic wildfires, such as the Lahaina Fire, Camp Fire, Marshall Fire, and Smokehouse Creek fires, were all started by electrical equipment and show how devastating these events can be because they threaten lives and structures. Vegetation structure, weather and winds, climate and vegetation response, land use, and human activities all impact the likelihood of severe wildfires. We explore the relationship between the built environment, electric grid infrastructure specifically, and its role in causing catastrophic wildfires to find lessons learned for increasing resilience. Electric grid utility companies currently employ multiple methods to mitigate fire, including (1) early detection, (2) grid hardening, (3) vegetation management, and (4) pre-emptive shutoffs. Utility companies need to consider the conditions for wildfire and the impact that each mitigation strategy has on drivers of wildfire behavior, as a single solution will not be adequate. Utility companies need to work with stakeholders to develop a holistic strategy to reduce ignition likelihood and spread likelihood to reduce catastrophic wildfires and improve resiliency.

Suggested Citation

  • Holly Eagleston & Michelle Bester & Jubair Yusuf & Adit Damodaran & Matthew J. Reno, 2025. "Systemic Drivers of Electric-Grid-Caused Catastrophic Wildfires: Implications for Resilience in the United States," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:16:y:2025:i:1:p:13-:d:1593806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/1/13/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/1/13/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang, Weijia & Sparrow, Sarah N. & Ashtine, Masaō & Wallom, David C.H. & Morstyn, Thomas, 2022. "Resilient by design: Preventing wildfires and blackouts with microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yang, Weijia & Sparrow, Sarah N. & Wallom, David C.H., 2024. "A comparative climate-resilient energy design: Wildfire Resilient Load Forecasting Model using multi-factor deep learning methods," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 368(C).
    2. Perera, A.T.D. & Zhao, Bingyu & Wang, Zhe & Soga, Kenichi & Hong, Tianzhen, 2023. "Optimal design of microgrids to improve wildfire resilience for vulnerable communities at the wildland-urban interface," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    3. Bai, Mingliang & Yao, Peng & Dong, Haiyu & Fang, Zuliang & Jin, Weixin & Xusheng Yang, & Liu, Jinfu & Yu, Daren, 2024. "Spatial-temporal characteristics analysis of solar irradiance forecast errors in Europe and North America," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    4. Sadeeb S. Ottenburger & Rob Cox & Badrul H. Chowdhury & Dmytro Trybushnyi & Ehmedi Al Omar & Sujay A. Kaloti & Ulrich Ufer & Witold-R. Poganietz & Weijia Liu & Evgenia Deines & Tim O. Müller & Stella , 2024. "Sustainable urban transformations based on integrated microgrid designs," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(8), pages 1067-1079, August.
    5. Tomin, Nikita & Shakirov, Vladislav & Kurbatsky, Victor & Muzychuk, Roman & Popova, Ekaterina & Sidorov, Denis & Kozlov, Alexandr & Yang, Dechang, 2022. "A multi-criteria approach to designing and managing a renewable energy community," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1153-1175.
    6. Aili Amupolo & Sofia Nambundunga & Daniel S. P. Chowdhury & Gunnar Grün, 2022. "Techno-Economic Feasibility of Off-Grid Renewable Energy Electrification Schemes: A Case Study of an Informal Settlement in Namibia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-32, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:16:y:2025:i:1:p:13-:d:1593806. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.