Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Eric Link (Fed)
Fire Protection Engineer
Dr. Eric Link is a fire protection engineer in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fire Group in the Fire Research Division of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Since joining NIST in 2017, his research has focused on a post-fire case study of the devastating Camp Fire that occurred in Butte County, California in 2018 (Paradise, CA). The goal of this research is to better understand WUI fire incidents in terms of incident development, fire spread and progression, emergency response, and structure performance, to identify approaches to help communities at risk of WUI fire become more prepared. Findings and lessons learned range from structure ignition vulnerabilities and community fire spread hazards to evacuation complications and critical life safety aspects of WUI fire incidents.
In addition to WUI fire incident reconstructions, Dr. Link has also been involved with experiments to quantify firebrand showers through the measurement and characterization of airborne firebrands, and the measurement of fire spread from parcel-level WUI fuels. Knowledge gained through case studies and experiments has supported information transfer and training to WUI communities and first responders, and the development of community mitigation and preparedness methods.
Dr. Link is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, where he received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Fire Protection Engineering and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.
Awards
U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal, 2023