Collaborative Research: Conference: FIRE-NET: From Combustion to Recovery: Science and Solutions for Post-Fire Building Contamination

When wildfires burn homes, businesses, and vehicles, the resulting smoke and ash contain a mix of toxic substances, including asbestos, heavy metals, and industrial chemicals released from building materials. These contaminants can enter nearby structures and linger indoors long after a fire is out and remain at unsafe levels even after cleanup efforts. Because scientists do not yet fully understand how these contaminants behave once released, communities recovering from fires often lack reliable, science-based guidance on how to properly assess and clean their homes. As wildfires become more frequent and destructive across the United States, this gap poses a growing risk to public health and safety. This project supports a conference that brings together scientists, government agencies, insurers, and representatives from fire-affected communities to build the scientific foundation needed to improve fire recovery practices nationwide, better protect public health, and train the next generation of researchers equipped to address this urgent national need. Through virtual meetings and an in-person conference, this project will establish an interdisciplinary research network spanning combustion chemistry, indoor environmental science, exposure assessment, and recovery decision-making. Motivated by recent findings of heavy metal contamination detected miles from wildland-urban interface burn areas and contaminant levels persisting above federal thresholds after remediation, the focus is to develop a mechanistic framework linking combustion conditions, contaminant speciation, indoor fate and transport, and human exposure pathways. Critical research gaps, measurement standard needs, and barriers to technology adoption will be identified. Major outputs include publications, educational materials, and a transferable tabletop exercise that translates scientific findings into practical guidance for communities and decision-makers in fire-prone regions nationwide, while establishing a training pipeline for scientists working across these disciplines. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.