Video analysis of human behaviour during wildfire evacuations

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering
• Main Authors: Carton, Hannah, Gales, John, Kennedy, Eric B.
• Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant, NSERC CGS-M graduate scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development grant
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2024
• Subjects: Fort McMurray; Lanes
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2023-0450; https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjce-2023-0450; https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjce-2023-0450

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.