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The Center for Plumbing Safety

Wildfire Response and Recovery Resources

This page is a central resource hub for anyone navigating the aftermath of a wildfire — from residents and business owners to public health officials and water utility managers. When fire strikes, it can compromise far more than structures: soil, drinking water systems, and building infrastructure can all become unsafe, and the decisions that follow are often high-stakes and time-sensitive. The guidance, tools, and studies below were developed for:

Households and property owners, who need clear steps for testing and restoring soil, buildings, wells, and plumbing. Public health officials, who guide communities through safe recovery and must respond to resident concerns. Public works and water utility officials, who manage the technical and regulatory response to contaminated infrastructure. Agricultural property owners, whose water systems and land face distinct wildfire risks. Additional users may include emergency management professionals, insurance and agricultural industry representatives, nonprofit organizations, elected officials, and consultants supporting recovery efforts.

New studies have been added — see the research section below.

Information in these documents is partly based on practices from several health departments who have responded to wildfire disasters and grounded by data and our firsthand experiences.

Questions can be directed to Dr. Andrew Whelton at awhelton@purdue.edu.

Resources

Residential Property Soil Testing and Restoration. Guidance for property owners and health officials covers residential soil testing and restoration after a wildfire — including site assessment, sampling protocols, cleanup goals for the 21 RAAM metals, and common remediation pitfalls. It draws on firsthand experience investigating contamination and advising agencies at all levels.

Building Environmental Inspection and Testing. Property owner and health official guidance is an actionable resource to help with decision-making before, during, and after building environmental testing and sampling. Information provided pertains to residential, commercial, and other types of buildings.

Private Well Inspection and Testing. This guide provides households and public health officials considerations for water system, inspection, testing, and potential safe drinking water options when the plumbing is unsafe. 

Building Plumbing Inspection and Testing. Guidance here provides households and public health officials considerations for water system, inspection, testing, and potential safe drinking water options when the plumbing is unsafe.

Agricultural Water System Inspection and Testing. Agriculture property owners (i.e., ranchers, farmers, etc.) now have guidance on fire-impacted water system, inspection, testing, and potential alternate water supply options. 

Drinking Water Specific Resources

Public Drinking Water System Response. The first Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) Plan for public works and water utilities is now freely available. This brief guide is an actionable resource to help with decision-making before, during, and after the incident. A free copy of the document can be obtained by asking the Water Research Foundation.

Concept of Operations (CONOPS) Plan for Water Distribution System Testing and Recovery [October 2024]

Here is the list of chemicals to test for (as of May 2022) to find chemical contamination in wildfire impacted drinking water systems:

This video helps prepare officials for water system damage scenarios. Wildfires can damage water distribution system infrastructure both physically –and– chemically. Some damage may not be visible. Hazardous waste scale drinking water chemical contamination can be caused. This presentation does not cover all situations, but instead provides an introduction for the viewer. More information and help can be obtained by contacting the Center for Plumbing Safety.

This video helps describes lessons learned by the State of New MExico and Oregon in response to wildfires and also Purdue University researchers. 

Various agencies have issued guidance documents for utilities looking to understand how to better respond to and recover from drinking water contamination caused by wildfire.

Public utilities and municipalities can seek reimbursement for the expenses associated with natural disaster response and recovery under certain conditions. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA issued a policy in 2020 specific to wildfire caused water system contamination. 

  • FEMA. Federal Insurance and Mitigation. December 2020. Replacing water systems that have been burned and have caused contamination. Washington, D.C. USA. Freely available online: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_DRRA-1205-implementation-job-aid.pdf. "Wildfires generate intense heat that can adversely impact water system components both on the surface and underground. If intense heat modifies the chemical properties of water system components, chemicals might leach into the water, causing contamination. Infrastructure retrofits that reduce future risk to existing utility systems, including water systems, are eligible for HMA funding. The mitigation measures that are applied to the utility system can be multi-hazard to address more than just the hazard that caused the damage. Because HMA grants can be used to address undamaged portions of a utility system, they can be used to mitigate system components that have not been damaged but have properties like other systems that have sustained damage as well as undamaged portions of systems that have been partially damaged."
  • Public entities should become familiar with FEMA's hazard mitigation assistance (HMA).

In September 2021, the U.S. EPA issued this guidance document for utilities looking to understand how to better respond to and recover from drinking water contamination caused by wildfire. This document includes direct feedback sought by U.S. EPA from Purdue University researchers and its partners.

In 2023, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) issued this guidance document for public health departments to understand how to better respond to and recover from  health risks caused by wildfire. This document includes direct feedback sought by NEHA from Purdue University researchers and other organizations.

In 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued this guidance document on inspecting and tesitng private drinking water wells after a wildfire. This document includes discoveries from Purdue University researchers and other organizations.

In 2024, the Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI) issued this guidance document for public health departments to understand how to better respond to and recover from  health risks caused by wildfire. This document includes direct feedback sought by CIRI from Purdue University researchers and other organizations.

Other Information and Resources

Building Water Essentials Course – Public Health: Self paced, 10 hour online short-course

  • The Building Water Essentials course provides a baseline understanding of how building water systems are designed, how they operate and when problems arise, and how those problems can be resolved – information that is not readily available for public health officials (and others dealing with the issues) to access in a single package anywhere else. Topics include system components, codes, standards, water quality, flow, and the potential health risks, including water quality investigations and remediation. This course is 1 CEU and can be accessed here: https://engineering.purdue.edu/online/certifications/building-water-essentials

Public Summaries about Wildfire Studies

2024 Bipartisan Wildland Fire and Mitigation Commission

Chapter 4 of the Commission’s report (ON FIRE: The Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission) underscores the significance of drinking water safety and infrastructure impacts caused by wildfires and actions needed to help communities to respond and recover. The report heavily relies on studies led by our team to define needs and solutions. Subsequent studies led by our team help identify solutions to other wildfire challenges in this report that pertain to farms and ranches.

Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies about Wildfires, Contamination, and Recovery

  • 2026, Water utilities damaged by wildfires: Recovery lessons, mitigation and research recommendations. Utilites Policy. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2026.102245. To avoid, minimize wildfire damage, and expedite recovery water utility facility design, policy needs and research recommendations were identified. Several recommended actions were also described that can be adopted with little financial cost, while others require consideration during system upgrades and new construction.

  • 2026, Community-Driven Water Quality Assessment Following the 2023 Maui Wildfires: Insights into Post-Fire Drinking Water Contamination and Resilient Disaster Response. Environmental Science and Technology Water. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.5c00896. This study documents how researchers and community members united to initiate a home tap water sampling and water-quality outreach program in response to the need for information during and after the crisis. 

  • 2025, Formation and aqueous phase leaching of organic compounds following thermal degradation of commercial drinking water plastic pipes. Journal of Hazardous Materials. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137562. The potential for contamination to be generated by four thermally exposed commercially available PEX and HDPE drinking water pipes and one HDPE resin was examined. Experiments were conducted in the presence of water ranging from 100 to 285 degrees Celsius. Benzene was generated by and leached from all plastics at temperatures of 150°C and above. SVOCs were extracted from exhumed materials from wildfire impacted water systems, including several polyaromatic hydrocarbons which were not detected in the laboratory experiments.

  • 2024, Plastic water supply connectors: Leaching, hydrocarbon contamination, and decontamination. AWWA Water Science. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1382. Plastic water supply connectors often transport water from rigid plumbing components to another plumbing asset nearby. These are used for a variety of applications such as faucets, ice-makers, soda machines, refrigerators, and more. The chemicals leached from the new products were identified. The vulnerability of these materials to become chemically contaminated and decontaminated by water rinsing was evaluated.

  • 2024, Two Weeks after the Maui Wildfires: Drinking Water Experiences and Needs. Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EW00216D. Households in the affected areas were visited and surveyed about property characteristics, evacuation, water use, and water quality observations. Publicly available test results from Maui County and University of Hawaiʻi were also reviewed. Opportunistically, wildfire impacts to agricultural water systems were documented. 

  • 2023, Residential Water Softeners Release Carbon, Consume Chlorine, and Require Remediation after Hydrocarbon Contamination. Environmental Science and Technology. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c00700. Millions of water softeners are used in residences across North America yet their impact on water quality and ability to be decontaminated following hydrocarbon exposure has received little scrutiny. Laboratory testing of actual water softeners was conducted. Results indicate the need for health officials and building owners to pay attention to and remove contamination from these devices for safe plumbing use.  

  • 2023, Wildfire damage and contamination to private drinking water wells. AWWA Water Science. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1319. Following the 2021 Marshall Fire, this study discovered post-wildfire public health guidance for private well and plumbing owners was inconsistent and no prior studies had been conducted. By visiting and sampling properties with drinking water wells, water contaminantion was found, and best practices and research needs were identified. Study results also highlight the need to support to under resourced water systems and households.  

  • 2023, The Marshall Fire: Scientific and policy needs for water system disaster response. AWWA Water Science. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1318. This study describes lessons from the 2021 Marshall Fire, the most destructive and costliest fire in Colorado’s history. Decisions, resources, expertise, and response limitations for water systems and agencies during and after the wildfire were described. Actions were identified for utilities, governments, and researchers that could help communities minimize wildfire impacts, better protect workers and the population, and enable water systems to more rapidly respond and recover.

  • 2020, Wildfire caused widespread drinking water distribution network contamination. AWWA Water Science. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1183. This study describes lessons from the Tubbs Fire (2017) and Camp Fire (2018) where widespread drinking water chemical contamination was discovered in the water distribution network and not in the source water after the fire. In both disasters, drinking water exceeded state and federal government‐defined exposure limits for several volatile organic compound (VOC) contaminants (e.g., benzene at 40,000 µg/L [Tubbs] and >2,217 µg/L [Camp]). This work outlines factors that influence wildfire‐induced drinking water quality threats based on the findings from these two fires and explores related scientific and policy issues.

  • 2020, Drinking water contamination from the thermal degradation of plastics: implications for wildfire and structure fire response. Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology. Freely available online: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EW00836B. This study discovered that heating of various plastic drinking water pipes (i.e., PEX, HDPE, PP, PVC, and CPVC) can be a source of drinking water contamination.

  • 2021, Water safety attitudes, risk perception, experiences, and education for households impacted by the 2018 Camp Fire, California. Natural Hazards. Online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04714-9. This study describes household and public health lessons from the 2018 Camp Fire, California's most destructive wildfire in history. A survey was conducted to understand how the needs and questions of households affected who were faced with the delivery of contaminated water and plumbing for more than 6 months.