Living with fire
Description
Communities situated in high-hazard fire-risk zones are experiencing larger fires even after decades of fire suppression techniques have been implemented. While fire suppression mitigates the dangers short-term, as the cost of suppression rises and fires become more uncontrollable long-term sustainability is lost. Suppression techniques have left more kindling in denser forests while allowing invasive species to take root causing native species suffer due to their dependence on fires. The invasive species feed flames at a faster rate than native species, increasing the likelihood of an uncontrollable fire. The solution: adapt to living in a fire environment. Architecture and controlled fires are tools to making peace with raging wildfires. If a forest is born to burn, let it, and design accordingly. Specifically, this thesis concentrates on design opportunities such as firebreaks, community engagement, technology, and fire festivals for humans to live with wildfire. These elements mitigate wildfires while also resulting in assets for the community. This thesis seeks to redesign a fire devastated community to demonstrate the potential of fire-safe strategies.