Supporting regional leaders in the South-Central Puget Sound of Washington with efforts to build community and economic resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
Supporting regional leaders in the South-Central Puget Sound of Washington with efforts to build community and economic resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
The South-Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator is a two‑year initiative designed to help local governments, state agencies, Tribes, businesses, and community organizations across the region collaborate on priorities for building resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Beginning in Spring 2025, the Accelerator launched across a five-county region in the South-Central Puget Sound—including King, Kitsap, Pierce, Thurston, and Snohomish counties—where heat and smoke events are becoming a more common threat to both physical and social infrastructure. Early engagement included scoping conversations with over 100 people across the region and preparation for two full-day convenings, bringing together more than 50 cross-sector leaders to identify priorities and co-development actional regional strategies.
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are increasingly shaping climate risk in the South‑Central Puget Sound. Historically mild temperatures and limited cooling infrastructure leave communities exposed to worsening heat events like the 2021 Pacific Northwest Heat Dome, which caused 400+ deaths statewide and drives an estimated $426 million in annual economic losses. By 2080, the region could experience up to 48 extreme heat days each year, while wildfire smoke from across the Pacific Northwest continues to degrade air quality—placing Seattle among the U.S. cities most affected by smoke-related pollution.
From the South-Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator
Publication | May 12, 2026 | Regional Action Roadmap for Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke: From the South-Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator
The Regional Action Roadmap outlines a shared, cross‑sector framework to advance priority actions that strengthen community, economic, and infrastructure resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke across the region, drawing on insights from Year 1 of the South-Central Puget Sound Accelerator.
Blog | October 2, 2025 | Connecting Resources Across Sectors to Strengthen Climate Resilience in Western Washington
This blog recaps the South‑Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator’s second in-person event, bringing together cross‑sector leaders at the Resources Connector Forum in Tacoma to align funding, tools, and expertise for advancing regional resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
Blog | August 8, 2025 | Amid a hot and smoky Pacific Northwest summer, communities seek innovative and collaborative solutions to build resilience
This blog describes how, amid record heat and wildfire smoke, C2ES convened nearly 70 cross‑sector leaders in Seattle for the first in‑person convening of the South‑Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator to collaboratively identify strategies for building regional resilience.
The Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator is a multi-year, regionally focused initiative that unites cross-sector leaders to strengthen climate, economic, and community resilience. The Accelerator is currently active in three regions:
The Accelerator aims to create a structured environment where regional stakeholders can share data, align existing efforts and resources, and design innovative solutions that protect residents and safeguard critical infrastructure. Each regional Accelerator cohort joins a growing network of resilient regions across the country; the national cohort will provide a platform for Accelerator participants to connect with resilience practitioners and resources, learn from other regions, and inform policy recommendations.
Learn more about the Accelerator here.
The South-Central Puget Sound Accelerator is currently in Year 2. In Year 1 (~May 2025-April 2026), the Accelerator convened regional leaders to discuss priorities related to extreme heat and wildfire smoke resilience and developed the Regional Action Roadmap. I Year 2 (~May 2026-April 2027) the Accelerator will advance priority Key Action Areas that emerge in the Regional Action Roadmap and strengthen resilience policy through federal policy recommendations.
C2ES launches the second Accelerator program in Washington’s South-Central Puget Sound region.
C2ES meets with over 100 regional leaders to understand priorities, existing efforts, and opportunities for the Accelerator to support the region.
The Accelerator meets for its first in-person convening in Seattle, WA: a full-day event—the Resilient Economies Roundtable—bringing together cross-sector leaders to identify resilience challenges and strategies.
The Accelerator meets for the second in-person convening—the Resources Connector Forum—to align partners and resources, and begin co-creating regional resilience action plans.
C2ES and the Accelerator cohort collaborate on a Regional Action Roadmap, outlining priority strategies for building resilience to heat, wildfire, and flooding, and defining next steps.
The Accelerator publishes the Regional Action Roadmap, which will help guide the focus area of the program in Year 2.
The 2025 Accelerator convenings elevated topics that are top priorities for the region, grounded in the cohort’s vision for a resilient future. With the cohort’s input, C2ES summarized these topics into six key action areas, which capture strategies to build resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
Regional Action Roadmap for Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke: From the South-Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator
Region Lead: Hanna Payne, Resilience Manager
If your organization, community, or business is located in the South-Central Puget Sound region and you’d like to learn more about the Accelerator, please contact Hanna Payne at payneh@c2es.org.