PASSIVE HOUSE & fire resilience
Fire has always been a natural part of the West Coast ecosystem, but the effects of climate change and increasing urban density have made homes and cities more vulnerable.
PASSIVE HOUSE design prioritizes energy efficiency, comfort, acoustics and indoor air quality while offering additional resilience to fire, smoke, power outages, and extreme weather events.
Although PASSIVE HOUSE buildings are not fireproof (as no building can be entirely immune to fire), their design, materials, and performance significantly enhance resilience in fire-prone areas. By seamlessly integrating fire-resistant strategies with the physics-based principles of PASSIVE HOUSE construction, and combining them with appropriate fire-resistant materials and landscaping, PASSIVE HOUSE becomes a robust adaptive solution buildings.
Passive House & Fire Resilience | Building Forward
Six months since the Marshall Fire burned more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County, the Coloradans affected are looking to the future. After the devastating realization that this type of fire can happen any time of year and in almost any place, several families are rebuilding homes that are not only more eco-friendly but also more fire resistant.
Growing wildfire devastation demands better-protected buildings – better protected by building design and better design of their surrounding landscape. Yet, after fire events, like in Los Angeles, there is a need to rebuild quickly. Just build it back, the thinking goes, but we can do better.
Let’s build forward with fire-safe strategies integrated with Passive House building design to drive down our dependence on fossil fuels, protect people’s health, and adapt to the ever-growing threats of extreme weather. Join us as we investigate integrated approaches with Passive House, how they’ve been implemented following other wildfires, and the possibilities they demonstrate for building forward.
About the presenters:
Birgitte Messerschmidt is Director, Research, National Fire Protection Association. She is responsible for NFPA’s Research Strategy, Research on fire problems and other safety issues, Data collection efforts to maintain NFPA’s fire incident and fire service databases, and the NFPA Research library. She has a M. Sc. In Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and has spent her entire career working on fire safety issues. Making our built environment more resilient to fire through a better understanding the impact of construction products and methods, testing procedures, and policy has been a career-long passion. She has been involved in testing and research as well as standardization and advocacy. She has published and presented numerous papers on fire safety issues.
Andrew Michler has focused on high-performance building design and materiality since 1993. He has written and researched extensively on new architecture and is the author of the book Hyperlocalization of Architecture, released in 2015. He is a co-founder of Passive House Rocky Mountains, a founding board member of The Passive House Network, and was chair of the Northern Colorado Renewable Energy Society. He completed the first International Certified Passive House in Colorado in 2016, which has won several awards and has been prominent in international design media. His experience designing Passive House throughout the Colorado Rockies has focused on wildfire hardening techniques merged with Passive House methodologies.
Rocky Mountain PBS | Building Back Better After the Marshall Fire
Wildfire Resilience in Action
Article published by Phius - Projects Built for Fire Resistance by Jarrod Denton.
Building For Safety: The Role Of Passive Architecture In Enhancing Wildfire Resilience
Worldarchitecture.org | By Palak Shah | Feb 23, 2025
With each wildfire, lives are uprooted, and homes are lost, leaving communities across the affected regions to rebuild amidst unimaginable destruction. The recent Los Angeles wildfires caused devastating damage, destroying thousands of homes and displacing countless people, leaving entire communities struggling to recover. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection(CAL FIRE), the Palisades Fire destroyed 6,833 structures and claimed 12 lives, while the Eaton Fire led to the loss of 9,418 structures and 17 lives. Though the cause remains under investigation, the destruction has sparked an urgent conversation about how we can better protect our communities from such devastation.
As the region begins to rebuild, many are turning to innovative solutions for long-term fire protection. One such solution gaining attention is Passive House Design, known for its energy-efficient features and its potential to enhance resilience against future wildfires. But what exactly makes it ‘passive’? And how does it measure up as a viable solution to wildfire risks? With the memory of these fires still fresh, the need for sustainable, protective design has never been more urgent.