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Review of California Wildfire Evacuations from 2017 to 2019

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  • Wong, Stephen D.
  • Broader, Jacquelyn C.
  • Shaheen, Susan A. PhD

Abstract

Between 2017 and 2019, California experienced a series of devastating wildfires that together led over one million people to be ordered to evacuate. Due to the speed of many of these wildfires, residents across California found themselves in challenging evacuation situations, often at night and with little time to escape. These evacuations placed considerable stress on public resources and infrastructure for both transportation and sheltering. In the face of these clear challenges, transportation and emergency management agencies across California have widely varying levels of preparedness for major disasters, and nearly all agencies do not have the public resources to adequately and swiftly evacuate all populations in danger. To holistically address these challenges and bolster current disaster and evacuation planning, preparedness, and response in California, we summarize the evacuations of eleven major wildfires in California between 2017 and 2019 and offer a cross-comparison to highlight key similarities and differences. We present results of new empirical data we collected via an online survey of individuals impacted by: 1) the 2017 October Northern California Wildfires (n=79), 2) the 2017 December Southern California Wildfires (n=226), and 3) the 2018 Carr Wildfire (n=284). These data reveal the decision-making of individuals in these wildfires including choices related to evacuating or staying, departure timing, route, sheltering, destination, transportation mode, and reentry timing. We also present results related to communication and messaging, non-evacuee behavior, and opinion of government response. Using the summarized case studies and empirical evidence, we present a series of recommendations for agencies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires.

Suggested Citation

  • Wong, Stephen D. & Broader, Jacquelyn C. & Shaheen, Susan A. PhD, 2020. "Review of California Wildfire Evacuations from 2017 to 2019," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt5w85z07g, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt5w85z07g
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cova, Thomas J. & Johnson, Justin P., 2003. "A network flow model for lane-based evacuation routing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 579-604, August.
    2. Wong, Stephen & Shaheen, Susan, 2019. "Leveraging the Sharing Economy to Expand Shelter and Transportation Resources in California Evacuations," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6pw2w52b, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    3. Wong, Stephen D & Chorus, Caspar G & Shaheen, Susan A & Walker, Joan L, 2020. "A Revealed Preference Methodology to Evaluate Regret Minimization with Challenging Choice Sets: A Wildfire Evacuation Case Study," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt2k12q9ph, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    4. Wong, Stephen D & Walker, Joan L & Shaheen, Susan A, 2020. "Bridging the Gap Between Evacuations and the Sharing Economy," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6kd0w387, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    5. Philip E. Dennison & Thomas J. Cova & Max A. Mortiz, 2007. "WUIVAC: a wildland-urban interface evacuation trigger model applied in strategic wildfire scenarios," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 41(1), pages 181-199, April.
    6. Stephen D. Wong & Joan L. Walker & Susan A. Shaheen, 0. "Bridging the gap between evacuations and the sharing economy," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-50.
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