Summary
In the aftermath of the January Southern California wildfires, which ravaged large parts of Altadena and Pacific Palisades, as well as other areas in Los Angeles and San Diego, faculty members and students from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have come together to support the community’s recovery process.
How UCLA Engineers Are Aiding L.A.’s Wildfire Recovery and Addressing Post-Fire Hazards
These members of UCLA’s engineering community are working with federal and local agencies on post-fire field reconnaissance, providing expert insights to local and national media, and developing research aimed at mitigating future wildfire devastation, ranging from soil testing and hazardous waste safety to early fire detection and community support.
Mapping and Collecting Data
Civil and environmental engineering doctoral student Patrick Hadinata (left), who is advised by Ertugrul Taciroglu, and research scientist Riyaaz Shaik (right) collect street view imagery in the Eaton Fire zone.
In the immediate aftermath of the fires, several UCLA Samueli faculty members from the civil and environmental engineering department participated in field data reconnaissance and mapping efforts.
Professors Sriram Narasimhan and Ertugrul Taciroglu completed nearly 40 miles of terrestrial mapping with their team’s vehicle-mounted cameras and lidar (a sensing method that utilizes laser light) systems in the worst-affected Palisades area Jan. 22. They worked with the City of Los Angeles to extract actionable information regarding the state of affected critical infrastructure, such as utilities and roads. The duo also plans to help monitor the repair and recovery processes over the coming months and years.
Associate professor Timu Gallien helped conduct lidar and hyperspectral imaging flights over the Palisades to collect highly perishable data before rain arrived in February. These observations can help predict, monitor and map debris flows and landslides. Over the long term, Gallien will use the data to better understand the physics of hyper-concentrated flows for improved modeling, predictions and warnings. Gallien is working with Akin, Narasimhan and Taciroglu on these efforts.
Professor Scott Brandenberg has also coordinated data reconnaissance as part of the National Science Foundation-funded programs that organize quick response field teams. These include Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance, Public Health Extreme Events Research and Nearshore Extreme Events Reconnaissance. The programs are coordinated by the CONVERGE Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, which supports the collection of perishable data following extreme events. Brandenberg is also working with Jonathan Stewart, a professor who specializes in earthquake engineering and has led several post-natural disaster data reconnaissance projects.
The story continues on the UCLA Newsroom website.
