Mapping the 2003 Southern California Wildfire Evacuations

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The objective of this project is to design a geographic database of the Southern California wildfire evacuations of 2003. The primary research question is, "Where and when did wildfire evacuations occur and what were their general characteristics?" Example characteristics of interest include the time the event (wildfire) was detected, the timing, medium, and content of the evacuation order, the area that was evacuated and the decision-making process that led to the given protective action. The project will be divided into two phases: 1) information gathering, and 2) geographic database design. The first phase will focus on collecting information from in the form of articles, photos, video, and eye-witness accounts. Other secondary data to be collected include air photos, satellite imagery, land ownership, and roads. Structured interviews of emergency managers (informants) will be conducted to gather more detailed information on each of the evacuations and the decision-making process that led to a particular protective action (e.g. mandatory versus voluntary evacuation). The focus of the second phase will be assembling the information into a comprehensive geographic database.This project will: 1) increase our understanding of the complex spatial dynamics of wildfire evacuations and associated decision making for a major event, 2) provide a sampling frame for future behavioral studies on warning and evacuation, and 3) lead to better evacuation modeling and prediction for other communities at risk to wildfire.