Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU

Escalating extreme wildfires, fueled by the confluence of climate change, land use patterns alterations, ignitions by humans, and flammable fuels accumulation, pose significant and increasingly destructive risks to critical infrastructure (CI). This study presents a comprehensive comparative analysi...

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Autores: Kalapodis, Nikolaos, Sakkas, Georgios, Kazantzidou-Firtinidou, Danai, Alcasena Urdiroz, Fermín Jesús, Cardarilli, Monica, Eftychidis, George, Koerner, Cassie, Moore-Merrell, Lori, Gugliandolo, Emilia, Demestichas, Konstantinos, Kolaitis, Dionysios, Eid, Mohamed, Varela, Vasiliki, Berchtold, Claudia, Kalabokidis, Kostas, Roussou, Olga, Chandramouli, Krishna, Pantazidou, Maria, Cox, Mike, Schultz, Anthony
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad San Jorge (USJ)
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/55773
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55773
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Wildfires
Critical infrastructure
Climate change
Resilience
CER directive
Policy recommendations
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spelling Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EUKalapodis, NikolaosSakkas, GeorgiosKazantzidou-Firtinidou, DanaiAlcasena Urdiroz, Fermín JesúsCardarilli, MonicaEftychidis, GeorgeKoerner, CassieMoore-Merrell, LoriGugliandolo, EmiliaDemestichas, KonstantinosKolaitis, DionysiosEid, MohamedVarela, VasilikiBerchtold, ClaudiaKalabokidis, KostasRoussou, OlgaChandramouli, KrishnaPantazidou, MariaCox, MikeSchultz, AnthonyWildfiresCritical infrastructureClimate changeResilienceCER directivePolicy recommendationsEscalating extreme wildfires, fueled by the confluence of climate change, land use patterns alterations, ignitions by humans, and flammable fuels accumulation, pose significant and increasingly destructive risks to critical infrastructure (CI). This study presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of wildfire impacts and the corresponding CI resilience strategies employed across the EU and the US. It examines the vulnerability of CIs to the devastating effects of wildfires and their inadvertent contribution to wildfire ignition and spread. The study evaluates the EU’s CER Directive and the US National Infrastructure Protection Plan and assesses European Commission wildfire resilience-related initiatives, including FIRELOGUE, FIRE-RES, SILVANUS, and TREEADS flagship projects. It synthesizes empirical evidence and extracts key lessons learned from major wildfire events in the EU (2017 Portuguese fires; 2018 Mati wildfire) and the US (2023 Lahaina disaster; 2025 Los Angeles fires), drawing insights regarding the effectiveness of various resilience measures and identifying areas for improvement. Persistent challenges impeding effective wildfire resilience are identified, including governance fragmentation, lack of standardization in risk assessment and mitigation protocols, and insufficient integration of scientific knowledge and data into policy formulation and implementation. It concludes with actionable recommendations aimed at fostering science-based, multi-stakeholder approaches to strengthen wildfire resilience at both policy and operational levels.This research was financially supported by the European Union¿s Horizon 2020 Coordination and support programme FIRELOGUE under grant agreement No. 101036534.MDPIIngenieríaIngeniaritzaInstitute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD2025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2454/55773reponame:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarrainstname:Universidad San Jorge (USJ)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/European Commission/Horizon 2020 Framework Programme/101036534© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/557732026-06-17T12:41:47Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
title Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
spellingShingle Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
Kalapodis, Nikolaos
Wildfires
Critical infrastructure
Climate change
Resilience
CER directive
Policy recommendations
title_short Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
title_full Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
title_fullStr Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
title_full_unstemmed Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
title_sort Towards resilient critical infrastructure in the face of extreme wildfire events: lessons and policy pathways from the US and EU
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Kalapodis, Nikolaos
Sakkas, Georgios
Kazantzidou-Firtinidou, Danai
Alcasena Urdiroz, Fermín Jesús
Cardarilli, Monica
Eftychidis, George
Koerner, Cassie
Moore-Merrell, Lori
Gugliandolo, Emilia
Demestichas, Konstantinos
Kolaitis, Dionysios
Eid, Mohamed
Varela, Vasiliki
Berchtold, Claudia
Kalabokidis, Kostas
Roussou, Olga
Chandramouli, Krishna
Pantazidou, Maria
Cox, Mike
Schultz, Anthony
author Kalapodis, Nikolaos
author_facet Kalapodis, Nikolaos
Sakkas, Georgios
Kazantzidou-Firtinidou, Danai
Alcasena Urdiroz, Fermín Jesús
Cardarilli, Monica
Eftychidis, George
Koerner, Cassie
Moore-Merrell, Lori
Gugliandolo, Emilia
Demestichas, Konstantinos
Kolaitis, Dionysios
Eid, Mohamed
Varela, Vasiliki
Berchtold, Claudia
Kalabokidis, Kostas
Roussou, Olga
Chandramouli, Krishna
Pantazidou, Maria
Cox, Mike
Schultz, Anthony
author_role author
author2 Sakkas, Georgios
Kazantzidou-Firtinidou, Danai
Alcasena Urdiroz, Fermín Jesús
Cardarilli, Monica
Eftychidis, George
Koerner, Cassie
Moore-Merrell, Lori
Gugliandolo, Emilia
Demestichas, Konstantinos
Kolaitis, Dionysios
Eid, Mohamed
Varela, Vasiliki
Berchtold, Claudia
Kalabokidis, Kostas
Roussou, Olga
Chandramouli, Krishna
Pantazidou, Maria
Cox, Mike
Schultz, Anthony
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ingeniería
Ingeniaritza
Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Wildfires
Critical infrastructure
Climate change
Resilience
CER directive
Policy recommendations
topic Wildfires
Critical infrastructure
Climate change
Resilience
CER directive
Policy recommendations
description Escalating extreme wildfires, fueled by the confluence of climate change, land use patterns alterations, ignitions by humans, and flammable fuels accumulation, pose significant and increasingly destructive risks to critical infrastructure (CI). This study presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of wildfire impacts and the corresponding CI resilience strategies employed across the EU and the US. It examines the vulnerability of CIs to the devastating effects of wildfires and their inadvertent contribution to wildfire ignition and spread. The study evaluates the EU’s CER Directive and the US National Infrastructure Protection Plan and assesses European Commission wildfire resilience-related initiatives, including FIRELOGUE, FIRE-RES, SILVANUS, and TREEADS flagship projects. It synthesizes empirical evidence and extracts key lessons learned from major wildfire events in the EU (2017 Portuguese fires; 2018 Mati wildfire) and the US (2023 Lahaina disaster; 2025 Los Angeles fires), drawing insights regarding the effectiveness of various resilience measures and identifying areas for improvement. Persistent challenges impeding effective wildfire resilience are identified, including governance fragmentation, lack of standardization in risk assessment and mitigation protocols, and insufficient integration of scientific knowledge and data into policy formulation and implementation. It concludes with actionable recommendations aimed at fostering science-based, multi-stakeholder approaches to strengthen wildfire resilience at both policy and operational levels.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55773
url https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55773
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/European Commission/Horizon 2020 Framework Programme/101036534
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
instname:Universidad San Jorge (USJ)
instname_str Universidad San Jorge (USJ)
reponame_str Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
collection Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
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repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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