Alexander Maranghides is an American fire protection engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is best known for his research on wildlandâÂÂurban interface (WUI) fires and large-scale fire testing.
Maranghides earned both a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Prior to joining NIST, he worked for seven years at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, serving as Test Director for the halon replacement program and co-inventing enhancements to gaseous suppression systems.
At NIST, Maranghides led the Large Fire Laboratory and has overseen hundreds of large-scale fire experiments. For over twenty years, he has focused on wildlandâÂÂurban interface fires. He led all four of NISTâÂÂs WUI fire case-study reconstructions, including the Waldo Canyon Fire and the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California. His work has informed building standards and regional fire safety guidance.
Maranghides leads WUI research combining field data collection, post-fire reconstruction, and controlled experiments. His team has investigated major wildfire disasters like Waldo Canyon and Paradise Camp Fire, identifying ember vulnerabilities, evaluating evacuation protocols, and developing guidance such as the ESCAPE framework and HMM.