Managing Urban Stormwater Infrastructure In A Post-Wildfire Environment

The impacts of post-wildfire flooding on channels, floodplains, and watersheds in general have been well documented. The impact of post-wildfire flooding on the urban environment, and specifically on stormwater infrastructure, is still relatively understudying or reported. The purpose of this case study is to provide examples of stormwater infrastructure post-fire impacts and the need for proactive planning, modeling, and design to provide urban flood relief in wildfire burn scar watersheds. A case study of Flagstaff, Arizona is provided with the 2019 Museum Fire (Spruce Wash) and 2022 Pipeline Fire (Schultz Creek) watersheds as study sites. The case study provides examples of flood events and multi-agency stormwater planning, floodplain map revisions, flood modeling, and stormwater capital improvements to mitigate the flood threat.