Outside Dynamic Evacuation Routes to Escape a Wildfire: A Prototype App for Forest Firefighters

• Published in: Sustainability 2021-07, Vol.13 (13), p.7295
• Main Authors: Castro-Basurto, Kerly, Jijon-Veliz, Freddy, Medina, Washington, Velasquez, Washington
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Design; Evacuation; Evacuation routing; Evacuations & rescues; Firefighters; Forest & brush fires; Geographical coordinates; Humidity; Mathematical models; Safety margins; Satellite communications; Sensors; Simulation; Sustainability; Wildfires; Wind direction; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su13137295

This paper describes a prototype application to use different algorithms for creating optimal evacuation routes in the presence of a wildfire with a dynamic event-based update. The application uses a meteorological API that obtains real-time temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, speed, and wind direction of each location within an area using geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for creating a sensor network. The data are stored in a database for monitoring and visualization using the open-source platform Grafana, which includes an early warning mechanism that sends messages when it detects a temperature outside the normal range. Three different simulation scenarios were evaluated, varying the fire’s starting point coordinates and the evacuation route. The results show that the algorithm reacts to the presence of fire, maximizing safety margins even on longer evacuation routes. The prototype can be used to create an application to fight forest fires and safeguard rescue agents’ lives.