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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · 17h

A strong background in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and experimental or numerical techniques is expected. Full details on how to apply is here.
firelab.berkeley.edu/available-po.... Email Prof. Gollner with your interest before the deadline. Note very limited international funding is available

Opportunities

We study combustion and fire phenomena using experimental and analytical techniques. A strong background in heat transfer, combustion, fluid mechanics and relat

firelab.berkeley.edu

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · 17h

I will be recruiting 1-2 new PhD students next year. Areas of interest include experimental fire research focused on flame spread, ignition, flammability or emissions of wildland or urban fuels and modeling the spread of fires through the wildland-urban interface.

Admissions - UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering

Breadcrumbs Graduate Programs Ph.D. & D.Eng. Master of Science Master of Engineering Fifth Year B.S./M.S. Program Degree Requirements 5th Year Masters Program Handbook Special Programs DEEST Graduate ...

me.berkeley.edu

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Reposted by Michael Gollner

Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · 15d

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

California’s fire safety push clashes with an L.A. icon: Bougainvillea

State officials are preparing rules that would bar planting flowers like bougainvillea within five feet of buildings in some areas to reduce wildfire spread.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Aug 29

Yes!!!!

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Aug 29

It was still good to find we can make a big impact without moving homes (which we can't feasible do) - but it requires broad adoption across communities.

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Aug 29

I think we have to be careful defining what the goal is: Is it preventing communities from burning down or improving the health of our forests (and air quality). Reducing fire intensity approaching communities & structures is also important, but very dependent on surrounding fuels and conditions

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Aug 29

Great to see this important debate highlighted! Our new study might be relevant to the discussion
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/28/c...

www.nature.com

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Aug 29

California communities can reduce wildfire damage by half. Here’s how:
Our new study "Fire risk to structures in California’s Wildland-Urban Interface" was published in Nature Communications today! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/28/c...

Fire risk to structures in California’s Wildland-Urban Interface - Nature Communications

Wildfire risk in California’s WUI is rising. Analysis of past events shows home hardening and defensible space can reduce structure loss by up to 52%, but coordinated, community-scale action is essent...

www.nature.com

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Aug 28

ACS's Chemical and Engineering News recently highlighted our research on WUI Fire emissions, including both recent laboratory work lnkd.in/gV_Wv58R and ongoing experiments at IBHS that will soon provide detailed emissions measurements from FULL SCALE structure burns! cen.acs.org/environment/...

Why are chemists starting infernos in the lab?

Researchers simulate wildland fires that move into cities to better understand what makes their plumes particularly toxic

cen.acs.org

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Reposted by Michael Gollner

Pam Kan-Rice @ucanrpam.bsky.social · Aug 15

“The frank reality is that we have to live differently in California,” Yana Valachovic @ucanr.edu told @toddwoody.bsky.social
Zone Zero would nearly double home survival rates in wildfires. “Doing this on a community level dramatically reduces risk,” said @gollnerfire.bsky.social

Todd Woody @toddwoody.bsky.social · Aug 12

New: My investigation into why a 2020 California law mandating ember-resistant zones around homes in wildfire areas hasn't been implemented. As climate threats accelerate, what aesthetic price are Californians prepared to pay to protect their communities? Free link.
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

While Los Angeles Burned, Rules to Protect Homes From Wildfires Were On Hold

California passed a 2020 law requiring property owners to create ember-resistant zones. Here’s why it’s only now finishing regulations that could’ve saved LA homes.

www.bloomberg.com

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jul 10

Great to see @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social highlight some ofoutreach and community work coming from both my wildfire class and the Berkeley Fire Research Lab. We've enjoyed our partnerships with the Berkeley Fire Safe Council and many other groups.
news.berkeley.edu/2025/07/09/w...

Wildfire season is here. UC Berkeley scholars are helping Bay Area communities prepare. - Berkeley News

UC Berkeley Professor Michael Gollner and his students are applying advanced wildfire simulation tools to help neighborhoods understand their specific wildfire risks.

news.berkeley.edu

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · May 17

Congratulations, Dr. Tripp!

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Feb 14

We do exactly that, Monte Carlo wildfire simulations that include structures. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reconstructing modes of destruction in wildland–urban interface fires using a semi-physical level-set model

Wildland fires in the wildland–urban interface (WUI) threaten urban structures. Effective landscape management relies on predictive tools that incorpo…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Feb 14

Models can’t get too much nuance on construction technologies at the community level, but can look at different levels of mitigation.

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Feb 13

And yes, we are working on this as well as several other important factors to nail down the best approaches to achieve risk reduction in communities. The modeling techniques were just published in the last year and we're using this simultaneously on several important problems! Open to discuss

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Feb 13

The idea has merit and in principle I don't see why it shouldn't work, provided you actually have significantly more fire resistant construction that doesn't introduce new risks. Sizing is difficult to predict - embers go far so you need large widths & changes to interior too

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jan 28

The California Fire Science Seminar Series will return on February 4, 2025, at 10 am PT. Join us for the weekly, virtual presentation and discussion on emerging fire science topics from a variety of speakers.
cafiresci.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?...

The 2025 California Fire Science Seminar Series — California Fire Science Consortium

The California Fire Science Seminar Series will return on February 4th, 2025. Join us every Tuesday through March 18th at 10 am PT for virtual presentations and discussions on emerging fire science to...

cafiresci.us2.list-manage.com

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Reposted by Michael Gollner

Lauren Sommer @lsommer.bsky.social · Jan 15

Los Angeles has some of the toughest wildfire policies in the country when it comes to building codes and vegetation. But these fires show there’s more to do. On @npr.org today www.npr.org/2025/01/15/n...

What LA did right before the fires -- and why it wasn't enough

Los Angeles has wildfire policies that are far tougher than many of those in Western states. The destruction from the recent fires shows there are still major gaps to address.

www.npr.org

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jan 12

I’ve used the domino analogy… Important to break the chain all over the place - dominos everywhere and flying embers, so mitigation must be community wide for greatest impact.

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jan 11

The International Fire Safety Consortium led development of an amazing resource many don't know about: a wildfire webinar series produced in coordination with @ULFSRI. 15 weeks worth of lectures are posted covering the field. Like wildfire 101. A great resource to get started!
buff.ly/4cHYGun

Know more about IFSC Wildland Fires Webinar Series

Join the IFSC Wildland Fires Webinar Series on Wildland fires, the International Fire Safety Consortium (IFSC) combines the expertise of fire scientists and experts from around the word.

buff.ly

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jan 11

It’s also hard to nuance information with the… you treat chaparral different than a forest!

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jan 11

I think the messaging was just twisted. The point perhaps is large scale fuel mitigation isn’t going to prevent (most) of the destruction we’re seeing. Fuels including vegetation, homes, etc in communities drives a lot of destruction. Fuel management CLOSE to communities is important.

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Reposted by Michael Gollner

Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · Jan 9

Here's the reality about the #LAFires this week: this isn't the first time ANY of these places have burned. Not even close. In 2018, we mapped CA fire history to look at fire frequency across SoCal. Santa Monica Mtns area burns more than anywhere else -- up to once per decade in a given spot. 🧵

Map showing the number of times a location has burned in SoCal and which kind of fire it was: one burning under Santa Ana winds, or one that was a summer, fuel-driven fire without Santa Ana winds. Malibu area had burned at least 8 times from 1900-2017, and has burned twice now since. Image from Kolden and Abatzoglou (2018): https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/1/2/19

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Reposted by Michael Gollner

Eric Holthaus @ericholthaus.com · Jan 9

Hollywood Blvd is now in a mandatory evacuation zone for the #Sunset fire.

It's gridlock.

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Michael Gollner @gollnerfire.bsky.social · Jan 8

The weird thing is wildfire is the only “preventable” natural disaster, in that we don’t just harden buildings against exposure, we can literally move the fuel away from structures to protect them. Fires will always happen in the wild but we COULD stop them from becoming disasters.

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