WUI-PEM: Wildfire Phased Zone Evacuation Methodology

Abstract

Wildfires are a growing threat to wildland-urban interface (WUI) communities. Globally over the last decade hundreds of wildfire related deaths have occurred along with hundreds of billions in economic losses. If the encroachment of fire into a community cannot be stopped, evacuation becomes necessary to save lives. In response to the increasing threat, WUI communities must properly prepare and implement an evacuation plan, as orchestrating an evacuation within a limited time frame is a complex challenge. While several fire and evacuation simulation tools have been developed to aid planning, a comprehensive methodology for constructing and assessing evacuation plans is still evolving. This article fills some of the current gaps with a simple six-step process to evaluate wildfire risk, individual evacuation zone traffic demand, and formulate a staged zone-based full evacuation plan. This methodology can be used for wildfire evacuation planning, evacuation plan management, and training.