Alexander Maranghides, a fire protection engineer with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has been awarded a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal, commonly known as a “Sammie,” for his groundbreaking work advancing the science of wildfires in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI).
The honor recognizes more than two decades of meticulous field and lab research aimed at understanding how fires move through communities located near wildlands, and how life and property can be better protected. Every year, fires in these zones destroy thousands of structures and result in billions of dollars in damage across the United States. Maranghides has spent 25 years addressing this problem head-on, turning post-disaster analysis into practical solutions.
His work has been especially influential in California, where the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is now using his hazard mitigation methodologies to improve community-level defenses in six areas. His evacuation guide has also been adopted by 30 jurisdictions in the state and has become the technical cornerstone for a national wildfire evacuation framework being led by the U.S. Fire Administration.
Over the years, Maranghides developed a standardized data collection method that has proven critical in understanding how fire spreads and what mitigation techniques work best. His detailed, years-long investigations in states like Texas, Colorado, and California have yielded game-changing insights into fire behavior, emergency response, and the design of defensible space around structures.
Former U.S. Fire Administrator and Homeland Security Today Editorial Board Member Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell praised his work for fundamentally reshaping how wildfire threats are approached, highlighting that his research has informed everything from ignition and evacuation patterns to rebuilding strategies in fire-prone areas.
“His conclusive findings from rigorous post-fire studies have accelerated the development of impactful solutions, like creating space for firefighters to engage and stop the wildfire from becoming a disaster, and teaching individuals to make themselves savable by hardening homes and reducing combustible fuels around their property,” Moore-Merrell said.
As Director of NIST’s Engineering Laboratory Joannie Chin put it, Maranghides has managed to close the gap between science and real-world application, something that remains a challenge in many areas of research.
California State Fire Chief Daniel Berlant also emphasized the national significance of Maranghides’ work, noting that while California has been grappling with wildfires for decades, many other states are just beginning to encounter similar risks. “These methodologies could mean the difference between someone being able to evacuate or someone’s home being saved,” Berlant said.
Reflecting on his years at NIST, Maranghides credited the agency’s impartial, nonregulatory position as essential to the integrity of his work. “It is 100% science. We don’t own fire engines, we don’t own forests, we don’t write building codes, we are nonregulatory and we do not insure anything,” Maranghides said. “This neutrality allows us to go and do these deep dives to generate implementable solutions.”
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)