In the Pacific Northwest, there are significant seismic hazards along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This 600-mile-long fault increases the likelihood of an intraplate earthquake, which could result in devastating damage and fatalities. VIE provides seismic bracing design services in Oregon and Washington in order to help clients prepare for natural disasters and mitigate the damage they cause. 

Seismic Risks In Oregon And Washington

Seismic analysis and bracing design are crucial in the Pacific Northwest due to the high seismic activity in these areas. The Cascadia Subduction Zone creates the risk of an M7 or greater earthquake within the next 50 years. The Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a tectonic belt in the Pacific Ocean, is a place where earthquakes commonly occur, due to tectonic plate interactions.

Not only are these two states at risk of an M7 or greater earthquake, they are also at risk of a resulting tsunami of up to 100 ft in height hitting the coastal areas. As such, proper seismic preparation is essential in order to preserve the life-safety condition of structures and mitigate damage that can result from such activity.

How Seismic Bracing Design Can Help

Most damage from earthquakes doesn’t result from the ground shaking itself, but rather from unrestrained non-structural systems, such as plumbing, fire water systems, mechanical systems, electrical systems, and more. Seismic bracing secures these systems, allowing them to move with the structure, rather than against it. 

Seismic bracing design helps with safety, property protection, community resilience, and compliance with legal and insurance requirements. 

• Safety. Seismic bracing helps buildings withstand seismic forces, which provides protection for human lives – something that cannot be overstated.
• Property Protection. Seismic bracing design mitigates the extent of damage to properties, which minimizes economic losses and helps with quicker recovery post-disaster.
• Community Resilience. When critical infrastructure remains functional after an earthquake, communities are able to stay resilient, as they have emergency response and recovery efforts.
• Legal and Insurance Requirement Compliance. It is often legally required to meet certain seismic codes, and whether these codes are met can affect insurability of properties and insurance premiums. 

VIE’s experienced seismic engineers are here to provide you with the seismic engineering services you need to both save lives and protect critical systems.

VIE’s Experience In Oregon And Washington

VIE has completed many projects in Oregon and Washington, from numerous data centers to multi-story, mixed-use buildings, and so much more. We have served as the design engineer of record, seismic bracing installation contractor, bracing procurement and supply entity, and more. We serve the following types of clients:

• Public utilities 
• Private owners of facilities
• State owners of facilities
• Federal facility owners
• Emergency management and response entities
• Municipal entities
• Insurance companies
• Investor groups
• And more

For a representative list of our projects in Oregon, Washington, or just in general, contact us, and we will be happy to provide you with whatever information you need.

Seismic Engineering Services In The United States

VIE Engineers provides the seismic engineering services you can count on throughout the United States. We go beyond simply meeting code requirements in order to ensure that our clients are provided with the most economical, technically effective seismic bracing designs for significantly enhanced value and safety. 

We pull on our first-hand experience from investigating numerous natural disasters and from our 40+ years of experience in the industry in order to help you improve the life-safety condition of buildings, lifeline systems, and facilities.

To learn more about our seismic engineering services and whether we can assist you with your needs, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you.  

2025 is on the horizon, and with it is a thriving PML market, with a lot of pent-up demand from people who have been waiting for interest rates to fall and who are looking for the best return. If you are looking to get a HUD loan application approved in seismic zones 3 or 4, you’ll need to obtain seismic assessments from licensed engineers. Such PML studies necessitate high levels of expertise in order to ensure that HUD standards are met, in order to avoid loan application rejections.

VIE has performed seismic assessment reports and probable maximum loss studies for hundreds of buildings throughout the United States, many HUD properties included. Here is what you need to know about what working with us for your probable maximum loss studies for your HUD properties can offer you. 

Reasons To Use VIE For PML / HUD Studies

#1. The Work You Need

VIE does work both as a subconsultant for larger companies and for property owners directly. If your company regularly represents buyers and sellers or owners of property and your company does multidisciplinary reports, VIE will do a great job for you. VIE also works directly for property owners or entities acquiring properties. 

People may go through big companies to provide everything they need when acquiring a property. VIE provides seismic services, and provides this service as a subcontractor for large companies, in addition to working directly with entities acquiring properties themselves.

#2. Extensive Experience

VIE has done thousands of PML studies in every earthquake-prone region in the United States in all types of properties, such as warehouses, shopping facilities, government structures, and so much more. We know what we are doing and bring that experience to you. We’ve done extensive work for HUD properties across multiple states and are familiar with the unique needs these properties face.

#3. Quick, Accurate, And Detailed Work

VIE brings practical experience to all of the seismic engineering work that we do. Our engineers get directly to the condition or earthquake resilience of the building very quickly because of how we have done so many facilities. VIE knows what the building is in 10 minutes, thanks to expansive experience, and can evaluate its risks and needs quickly. 

We do our work thoroughly too, with drawings and site reports. Our site reviews are typically very detailed, involving thorough building reviews. Our building reviews include measures such as getting into areas such as crawl spaces in order to clearly see what the structure is, looking into MEP systems, and more, in order to ensure we understand all of the details for the most accurate report.

#4. Realistic Estimates

When you work with VIE for your seismic assessments for HUD properties, you can rest assured that our engineers make PML estimates realistic, not overly conservative and not under conservative either. We do thorough assessments that are very cost effective. What we achieve is very high quality for a very reasonable price.

Seismic Engineering Services In The United States

VIE is equipped with decades of seismic engineering experience. We utilize knowledge from past natural hazards, implementing hands-on experience, in order to achieve the desired response in seismic performance. When you work with VIE, you’re working with committed experts who deliver the custom process each client needs that prepare you for services you may grow to need. We are proud to be an engineering firm that clients return to, time and time again.

To learn more about our seismic engineering services and what we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We are here to help you with all your seismic engineering needs.

In the event of an emergency, communities rely on first responders for aid. However, if crucial public buildings, like fire stations, aren’t up to current seismic code, the first responders themselves are in danger and may be unable to serve the needs of their communities. Federal grants provide the necessary funding to obtain seismic retrofits to keep such facilities safer.

The Importance Of Seismic Rehabilitation For Emergency Responders

It’s critical that first responders are able to perform emergency functions, and in areas with seismic activity, part of how they can do that is by increasing buildings’ capabilities to withstand earthquake forces. Seismic retrofits are not luxuries, but necessities, for the safety of all in the community. 

Seismic retrofitting is the process of strengthening buildings to make them more resistant to earthquake damage. It can be done structurally and to nonstructural systems, such as mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems. This process includes measures such as adding reinforcement to unreinforced masonry walls, adding new lateral-load resisting elements, strengthening weak connections, and more. Non-structurally, this includes measures such as seismic bracing and seismic anchorage.

The point of seismic retrofits is to improve life-safety measures, minimize financial losses, and facilitate quicker and more cost-effective post-disaster recovery. Critical public buildings, like fire stations, must meet performance requirements so that continued operations can be conducted following a seismic event.

Grants provide funds for seismic retrofitting of such buildings. First responders can obtain a variety of grants, such as pre-disaster mitigation grants, firefighter grants, emergency medical services grants, and more. To achieve success and win a grant, it’s important to work with an experienced grant writer who coordinates with the client in order to develop a grant that meets client needs, project execution goals, and schedule and budget limitations. 

The Needs Of One Of VIE’s Fire Station Grant Writing Projects

The United Fire Authority conducted a seismic risk analysis of its 25 fire stations, which were built over the past 40 years to varying levels of seismic standards. 5 of these stations were scheduled for near term replacement while the other 20 were evaluated for expected performance during a seismic event. 

These seismic evaluations determined that 15 fire stations met seismic criteria, while the other 5 required seismic retrofitting. In addition to this, it was determined that even the fire stations that did not require structural retrofits needed non-structural retrofitting done. 

Such seismic retrofits were important to protect not only the occupants of the fire stations, but also, the communities the fire stations served. The entire community benefits from fire stations that are more resilient to earthquake events. 

All-Encompassing Grants To Streamline Processes

Rather than writing multiple grants to try to accomplish seismic retrofit needs, an experienced grant writer can streamline the process through writing an all-encompassing grant. This makes the process of getting the grant approved and the project completed much more efficient.

How VIE Streamlined The Grant Process For UFA

The United Fire Authority retained VIE for our grant writing services. We wrote an all-encompassing grant to do seismic retrofits of multiple fire stations in one grant. The grant was approved, and over the next 3 years, UFA selected and utilized general contractors to do all seismic retrofits. 

Ensuring The Success Of The Grant

Once the grant is written and won, the process does not end there. Grant management ensures the success of the grant by coordinating amongst parties involved. This involves everything from negotiation of the final contract with the funding entity to grant performance to financial management, and finally, to grant closeout. 

Achieving Results On-Time And Under-Budget

While VIE did not do any design work on this project, VIE coordinated it with Utah, UFA, and FEMA throughout the construction process to ensure the success of the grant. The total budget was about 2.6 million dollars, but all work was completed about $200,000 under budget, on-time and on-schedule.

Grant Writing, Benefit-Cost Analysis, And Grant Management Services In The United States

VIE provides grant writing, benefit-cost analysis, and grant management services in the United States. We actively research the status of grant programs as part of our business. We study all aspects of a project to determine if and all grant funds that may be available. Successful grant writing can be the key to a project being delayed, canceled, or moving forward. VIE’s grant-win success rate exceeds 90%. 

To learn more about our grant writing services or any of the other seismic engineering services that we provide, please do not hesitate to contact us today.