Evacuation - Leaving Before the Flames
"A policy often enacted during wildfire events is evacuation – assisting people to leave areas exposed to fire before the fire (and even the smoke) fronts arrive... Evacuation planning and decision-making require an understanding of the behavior of the people affected by these fire events."
"Analyzing Risk Perception, Evacuation Decision and Delay Time: A Case Study of the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado" by Forrister et al., 2024.
Planning for the Future
- Homeland Security - Planning Considerations: Evacuation and Shelter-in-Place"This document supports state, local, tribal, and territorial partners in planning for evacuation and/or shelter-in-place protective actions. It summarizes characteristics that jurisdictions should consider when planning for evacuation and/or shelter-in-place operations..." (pg. 1)
- NIST - WUI Fire Evacuation and Sheltering Considerations: Assessment, Planning, and Execution (ESCAPE)Building off of the Camp Fire case study (found under 'Learning from the Past'), this document is meant to help communities develop notification and evacuation plans for future WUI fires.
Time to Go: Preparing and Evacuating
- USFA - Wildfire Evacuation ChecklistA checklist giving concrete steps to take while planning, preparing, and practicing for an evacuation and what to do when it's the real thing.
- CAL FIRE - Go! Evacuation GuideCAL FIRE talks about how to prepare for a power outage during a wildfire, what to do to protect your home before you leave, when to evacuate, and steps for evacuation.
Surviving Wildfire by Call Number: TH9445.D9 .M37 2012ISBN: 9781936555154Publication Date: 2013-01-20Masterson, who lost her Colorado home to wildfire in 2011, provides advice on risk assessment and mitigation, planning, evacuation, insurance, and rebuilding after a wildfire.
Learning from the Past
Civilians and first responders sheltering in a parking lot during the Camp Fire. Credit: Technical Discussion 041 from NIST Report
- NIST - A Case Study of the Camp FireThe National Institute of Standards and Technology reviews the life safety aspects of the 2018 Camp Fire, including timelines of evacuation notifications and actions, the performance of evacuation assistance and rescue, and specific strategies used during evacuation such as contraflow traffic and temporary refuge areas.
- Fire - Better Be Ready! Evacuation Experiences During a Bushfire Emergency12 people displaced by 2019 bushfires in Noosa, Australia were interviewed. Researchers then extracted and grouped common themes to their experience. This is applied to identifying steps to take during future evacuations for the health and comfort of the evacuees.
GO FURTHER: Try searching "evacuation" in the search bar at the top of the page.
What Do People Do? And Why?
- International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction - Incorporating human factors in emergency evacuation – An overview of behavioral factors and modelsThis report presents an evacuation-modelling timeline for both the general public and emergency coordinators, introduces a system for categorizing factors that impact evacuee behavior, and provide 42 "behavioral statements" based on previous literature.
- UCLA - Wildfire Evacuation Timing in Southern California's Wildland-Urban Interface: Using Survival Analysis to Identify Differences in Resident Evacuation Behavior During the 2016 Blue Cut FireFrom the IFSI Library Fire Service Dissertations and Theses Collection. "By identifying the characteristics of residents who evacuated early, late, and not at all, these analyses aim to assist community groups, researchers, and emergency managers in developing strategies to improve the rate and speed of future wildfire evacuation events." (pg. 3)