FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHERI RAPID Facility Supports Wildfire Reconnaissance Deployments
Seattle, WA, Jan. 16, 2025 – As communities face the challenging circumstances of the Los Angeles wildfires, the NSF-funded NHERI RAPID Facility is ready to support researchers in engineering, the natural and social sciences, and public health who are conducting post-disaster reconnaissance investigations of the wildfires. The facility enables the collection of critical data essential for understanding the impacts of natural hazards on the built, natural, and social environments.
The RAPID provides investigators with state-of-the-art equipment, software, and support services for comprehensive field reconnaissance. The facility portfolio includes advanced equipment such as terrestrial and aerial lidar systems, UAS-mounted multispectral, hyperspectral, and high-resolution imaging equipment, environmental health monitoring sensors, and a wide range of other field data collection tools for documenting and analyzing wildfire impacts. We also offer advisory services and logistics support to help plan and implement your field missions.
To utilize RAPID resources, please visit the facility’s equipment portfolio to review available instrumentation and request RAPID resources to submit your equipment request. The facility is open to NSF and NIH-supported researchers, extreme event reconnaissance organizations, federal and local agencies, and other investigators. For additional information about our services or to discuss your specific research needs, please email uwrapid@uw.edu or visit the RAPID contact page.
The NHERI RAPID Facility team is committed to supporting the natural hazards research community in gathering valuable data to inform future resilience strategies of the communities.
NHERI RAPID team at the site of the 2021 Marshall Wildfire, Marshall, Colorado. Image: NHERI RAPID