Microsimulation of neighborhood evacuations in the urban ^wildland interface

Using structure locations as a basis for mapping the wildland urban interface.

The wildland urban interface (WUI) delineates the areas where wildland fire hazard most directly impacts human communities and threatens lives and property, and where houses exert the strongest influence on the natural environment. Housing data are a major problem for WUI mapping. When housing data are zonal, the concept of a WUI neighborhood can be captured easily in a density measure, but var...

Fire in the Wildland–Urban Interface

In this chapter we provide an overview of the socio-economic and ecological effects and trends of wildfire in the WUI, methods for assessing wildfire risk in the WUI, approaches to managing the wildfire problem including fuels management, home construction and design, and community action programs. This overview is combined with two case studies analyzing wildfire risk and the use of prescribed...

Creating Defensible Space in the Wildland-urban Interface: the Role of Basic Beliefs about Forest and Wildfire Management

We examined the effect that basic beliefs about natural resources and fire management have on an individual’s decision to create defensible space around his or her residence in the urban—wildland interface. Using data from a mailback questionnaire, respondents in north central Minnesota were clustered by basic value—laden beliefs toward forest and fire management and compared across a number of...

Wildland Fire Suppression and Land Development in the Wildland/Urban Interface

Activity-based Modeling and Microsimulation of Emergency Evacuations

Most existing emergency evacuation studies assume evacuees to evacuate from their residence locations. However, depending on the time of day, people’s movements are constrained not only by their workplaces, but also the necessity of picking up family members. Family member interactions, a typical activity during an evacuation, can greatly affect the evacuation process. Activity-based modeling h...