The Desert Research Institute (DRI), in collaboration with the DRI Foundation, held its inaugural AWE+ Summit this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event, titled "Wildfire Recovery and Resilience: Working Across Silos to Drive Solutions," aimed to encourage communities to adopt measures that enhance resilience and adaptability to wildfires.
Nationally recognized scientific leaders discussed various challenges, progress, and potential solutions. Key topics included reducing loss and mitigating risk for utilities and infrastructure, addressing growing risks through insurance policies, and building resilient communities.
A significant point of discussion was the role of utilities in community safety during wildfires. Proactive shutdowns of power utilities during extreme wildfire conditions can prevent fires but also disrupt essential services such as medical equipment, security systems, and water pumping.
NV Energy’s Vice President of Natural Disaster Protection and Electric Delivery Jesse Murray highlighted the importance of utility companies in disaster prevention. “We appreciated being able to share the critical role utilities like NV Energy play in preventing natural disasters, including wildfires. Although we’ve been formally engaged in this work for five years, we continue to learn and adjust our natural disaster protection plan based on best practices and new innovative ideas to protect our infrastructure and our communities,” he said. “DRI’s inaugural AWE+ Summit brought together innovative thinkers and leaders to challenge the norms and think critically about the way we identify and define risk.”
DRI President Kumud Acharya emphasized the summit's collaborative nature. “AWE+ is a call-to-action for communities to implement measures that support resilience and human adaptability to devastating wildfire events,” he stated. “Bringing together a cross-section of industry, government, and non-government leaders to grapple with difficult questions, share ideas, and form collaborative relationships provides a unique opportunity to identify and address areas of need in their communities.”
Kristin McMillan Porter, Chair of the DRI Foundation, underscored the summit's comprehensive approach. “Beyond the fire itself, the summit addressed firefighter safety, air pollution, financial impacts, and the lasting effects and disruptions to livelihoods,” she noted. “These are tough issues, and it’s necessary to drive change in policies, practices, technologies, and behaviors.”
The AWE+ Summit provided participants with an opportunity to collaborate on actionable strategies for enhancing wildfire resilience within their communities.