Risk Associated with an Ignition Location (RAIL) is a wildfire risk metric used by utilities that assigns risk scores to specific utility assets based on their potential to ignite wildfires and the resulting consequences. Unlike static, landscape-level risk assessments commonly undertaken by government agencies, RAIL characterizes wildfire risk at specific ignition locations—individual utility network assets. Rather than mapping where wildfires are most likely to occur across a region, RAIL assigns potential wildfire impacts back to the specific asset that could ignite them. This approach identifies which individual assets carry the greatest risk of causing consequential wildfires.
RAIL Components
A RAIL analysis evaluates three main components:
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Probability of ignition for the asset
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Fire spread potential from wildfires starting at the asset's ignition location
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Consequence to values-at-risk (population, buildings, infrastructure) impacted by fire spread
By combining these components, RAIL generates asset-specific risk scores that enable utilities to prioritize mitigation efforts, operational decisions, and resource allocation based on the highest-risk equipment in their network.
See Risk Associated with Value Exposure (RAVE) for more information about how RAIL can be combined with RAIL for a composite risk metric.