Review of Research on Human Behavior in Large Outdoor Fires

Khorasani, Negar Elhami; Kinateder, Max; Lemiale, Vincent; Manzello, Samuel L.; Marom, Ido; Marquez, Leorey; Suzuki, Sayaka; Theodori, Maria; Wang, Y.; Wong, Scott T.

doi:10.1007/s10694-023-01388-6

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 146 publications

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“…Incorporation of human behavior and decision-making into the models is also an ongoing challenge. Several studies of human behavior during WUI fires have been done (see an overview [59] and detailed reviews of the field [33,60]). These complexities in predicting fire spread and the evacuation process exist even before the fire impacts the evacuation routes or community; additional complications can arise that are not able to be specifically predicted due to their stochastic nature.…”

Section: Wui Fire and Evacuation Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

WUI fire evacuation and sheltering considerations :

Maranghides,

Link

2023

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Impacts of wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires continue to rise in the U.S., as evidenced by the string of devastating and record-breaking events occurring since 2017. As seen in several events in recent years, WUI fires can impact communities quickly, leaving little to no time for civilians to evacuate. Numerous events have also occurred internationally, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Greece, and Portugal. One example is the Camp Fire that occurred on November 8, 2018, in Butte County, CA. The fire resulted in 85 fatalities and the destruction and damage of over 18 000 buildings, destroying over 90 % of the buildings in the town of Paradise. Following the fire, NIST initiated a case study to document and analyze fire spread and behavior, notifications, evacuations, and defensive actions to support preparedness for future WUI fires. The NIST Camp Fire case study has highlighted a number of potential challenges that intermix communities may face during WUI fire events. The purpose of this report is to use the lessons learned from the NIST Camp Fire case study to present a methodology and other considerations about WUI fire incidents that can be used by small and intermediate-sized WUI communities to help develop notification and evacuation plans. The proposed methodology considers the spatial and temporal components of fire spread and the resulting impacts of fire on evacuation to develop an evacuation triangle that can be used as the foundation for notification and evacuation decisions by emergency managers. This report provides communities a path forward for assessing, planning, and implementing a notification/evacuation plan that leverages pre-fire conditions, local knowledge, and during event information to enhance the life safety of civilians and first responders. While additional research will provide further refinements, specifically in the areas of weather forecasting, fire spread modeling, and evacuation modeling, the proposed system outlines a path for community leaders to effectively work with first responders before a fire to assess and prepare the community for WUI fire events that can strike with little or no notice. The methodology provides community leaders with a temporal context of WUI fire events that will enable them to better evaluate different hazard reduction and risk management strategies to enhance the life safety of residents and first responders.

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Section: Wui Fire and Evacuation Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

WUI fire evacuation and sheltering considerations :

Maranghides,

Link

2023

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A systematic review of methodologies for human behavior modelling and routing optimization in large-scale evacuation planning

Aldahlawi,

Akbari,

Lawson

2024

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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Video analysis of human behaviour during wildfire evacuations

Carton,

Gales,

Kennedy

2024

Can. J. Civ. Eng.

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Wildfire impacts are increasing due to the multiplicative effect of several factors, including climate change, increased vulnerability in the wildland-urban interface, and impacts of management decisions. This has also led to an increase in evacuations due to the number of wildfires and people affected. This study collected information on behaviour during wildfire evacuation to fill critical research gaps in human behaviour and evacuation knowledge. Seven videos of residents’ evacuations from the 2016 Fort McMurray fire were collected from public platforms. Their routes were analyzed, and notable behavioural events were recorded. The evacuees mainly used major roads before getting onto the highway (the only route available for vehicular egress). The notable behaviours observed included using opposite lanes and driving outside of marked roads to avoid congestion. Much of the observed behaviours appeared to be motivated by the surrounding traffic or fire behaviour, further supporting the need for further studies of evacuation.

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Review of Research on Human Behavior in Large Outdoor Fires

Cited by 3 publications

References 146 publications

WUI fire evacuation and sheltering considerations :

WUI fire evacuation and sheltering considerations :

A systematic review of methodologies for human behavior modelling and routing optimization in large-scale evacuation planning

Video analysis of human behaviour during wildfire evacuations

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