Still standing: a synthesis of local characteristics influencing housing survivability during WUI wildfires

Background There is a lack of scientific consensus on prioritization of mitigation actions to reduce susceptibility to wildfire. Aims This study identifies priority mitigation actions dependent on wildland–urban interface (WUI) community type while highlighting knowledge gaps to direct research needs. Methods This literature review examines the state of research from 28 relevant papers that explore post-fire housing survivability. Key results These studies suggest that house-, parcel-, neighborhood- and environment-scale characteristics influence housing survivability, including community design, such that priorities often differ between WUI community types. Although inconsistencies exist across observational studies, there are mitigation opportunities that effectively improve housing survivability, particularly within the home ignition zone. Conclusions Identified inconsistencies often arise from aggregating post-fire data across differing temporal and spatial scales or analyzing survivability associated with incident-specific fire behavior, leading to either a lack specificity or elevating event-specific characteristics that may not be consistent during another fire event. Importantly, suppression response, by either firefighters or civilians, is a critical determinant of housing survivability, although response is rarely evaluated because of data scarcity. Implications We identified knowledge gaps and make recommendations to fill those gaps with experimental testing and standardization of wildfire investigations. We also recommend establishing a fire behavior benchmark to evaluate mitigation effectiveness.