Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and Rutgers University have developed a new dataset that provides detailed estimates of combustible materials in the built environment across the conterminous United States. This dataset, named COMBUST, aims to enhance risk assessments and disaster management planning by quantifying the spatial distribution of burnable fuels in urban areas.
The team, led by Johannes H. Uhl and including Maxwell C. Cook, Cibele Amaral, Stefan Leyk, Jennifer K. Balch, Alan Robock, and Owen B. Toon, integrated various geospatial data sources to create fine-grained estimates of combustible mass. These sources include Earth-observation derived data, real estate data, statistical estimates, and volunteered geographic information. The resulting dataset covers building materials, building contents, and personal vehicles at a spatial resolution of 250 meters, with scenarios spanning from 1975 to 2020.
COMBUST provides a comprehensive view of the combustible mass in the built environment, which is crucial for assessing fire risk and potential damage from natural hazards such as wildfires and drought. The dataset also supports evaluations of scenarios related to potential hazards caused by military operations. By understanding the distribution and quantity of burnable fuels, disaster risk management and planning-related decision-making can be significantly improved.
Accompanying COMBUST is COMBUST PLUS, a set of consistently enumerated gridded datasets that facilitate combustion exposure modeling of buildings and population. These datasets offer a rich resource for ecological and social science applications, as well as for disaster risk management and planning-related decision-making for U.S. settlements. The COMBUST dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15611963.
For the energy industry, COMBUST can be particularly valuable in assessing the fire risk to critical infrastructure such as power plants, transmission lines, and distribution networks. By integrating this data into risk assessment models, energy companies can better prepare for and mitigate potential fire-related disruptions. Additionally, the dataset can aid in urban planning and development, ensuring that new energy infrastructure is built in areas with lower fire risk, thereby enhancing the resilience of the energy supply.
In summary, COMBUST provides a detailed and spatially explicit quantification of combustible materials in the built environment, offering significant benefits for disaster risk management, urban planning, and the energy sector. The dataset’s availability and accompanying tools make it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners alike. The research was published in the journal Earth System Science Data.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.