Reconnaissance and Resilience: The 2025 Los Angeles Fires

Wildfire risk is high across much of California, with Southern California especially vulnerable due to climate, vegetation, topography, and wind. The January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires showed how quickly fires can escalate into catastrophic urban events, destroying thousands of structures in hours.

This webinar presents findings from post-fire reconnaissance efforts led by the SEAOSC Disaster and Emergency Services Committee in collaboration with the Existing Building Committee and SEAOSC Board. Volunteer structural engineers collected perishable field data using observations, checklists, and photogrammetry.

The presentation will highlight key lessons learned and discuss aspects that may have implications for structural design, emergency response, and community resilience, showing how real-world wildfire performance data can inform future planning in fire-prone regions.

Speakers:

Emily Frazier, PE., is a Civil Engineer at YA Group with 15 years of experience in structural design and eight years in forensic engineering. She has experience with wood, steel, concrete, masonry, light gauge, container, and bamboo structures. During her time in design she worked on a variety of structures including big box structures, custom homes, tenant improvements, military projects, evaluations, and retrofits. When working as part of the Simpson Strong-Tie team she had been supporting engineers with structural steel solutions to their lateral systems. She currently works in forensic engineering.

Khalid Saifullah, Ph.D., is a Project Engineer at Kinemetrics Inc. in the Open Systems and Services Division. He has worked extensively on seismic analysis and the earthquake response of freestanding structures, numerical modeling, shake table testing, seismic hazard constraints using precariously balanced rocks, seismic isolation and structural health monitoring. Currently, he is working on developing and providing seismic monitoring and structural health monitoring solutions for various types of structures and facilities, especially energy facilities (such as Nuclear, LNG), with the goal of earthquake resilience and maintaining business continuity/functionality.

NCSEA Webinars and Digital Events Cancellation and Refund Policies

Webinar Cancellation

By NCSEA: If a webinar is canceled by NCSEA, all registered attendees will be notified via email. NCSEA will issue a full refund if the event cannot be rescheduled. If the event is rescheduled and a registrant can not attend on the rescheduled date, NCSEA will offer a credit in the amount of the purchase price.

By Registrant/Attendee: Cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in advance of the webinar (or the first webinar in the case of a series or bundle) and in writing via email (ncsea@ncsea.com) with the subject line “NCSEA Webinar Cancellation” and include the following in the body of the email: Title of Webinar, Order/Invoice Number, Name of Registrant, and Reason for Cancellation. No telephone refund requests will be accepted.

If the request has been approved, NCSEA can do one of the following:

• Refund the amount back to the original order payment method (a $25 cancellation processing fee will be assessed)

• Issue a full credit on the purchaser’s account that can be used towards a future webinar/event.

If you are unable to attend the webinar and the cancellation deadline has passed, a recording will be available (in most cases) in the Education Portal after the webinar has concluded.
Refunds are not granted due to attendee technology issues. It is your responsibility as the webinar attendee to test your computer setup prior to the start of the webinar.

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