Improving Our Understanding of Fire Evacuation and Displacement Effects

Wildfires will continue to have unprecedented effect on California’s economy and infrastructure. The November 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and largest fire in California history, killed 86 civilians and burned over 150,000 acres, leveling nearly all the structures in Paradise and Magalia in Butte County, California. The population exodus occurred, in the short term, to escape the disaster, and as the research team has observed in the following weeks and months, to locate available housing or shelter, both temporary and permanent. This movement affects the regional population dynamics; for example, Chico housing rents have dramatically increased in the past few months. Displacement also has implications for land use planning and travel demand modeling as well as infrastructure resilience strategies. This research focuses on short-term displacements effects: tracing dispersal from disaster exodus to shorter-term housing decisions. The team uses data they collected shortly after the Camp Fire, which includes 120 surveys at Red Cross shelters (the team was the only researchers who received permission for interviews at the Red Cross shelters) and over 300 online surveys and interviews from those who found alternative housing during the same time period. The team will examine regional and statewide implications of population shifts, paying particular attention to disadvantaged populations.

• Record URL:
  https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/improving-our-understanding-fire-evacuation-and-displacement-effects

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $70194
• Contract Numbers:

  Caltrans 65A0686 Task Order 039

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  Davis, CA  United States  95616
• Project Managers:

  Iacobucci, Lauren

• Performing Organizations:

  University of California, Davis

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  Davis, CA  United States  95616

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Neimeier, Debbie

• Start Date: 20200101
• Expected Completion Date: 20210831
• Actual Completion Date: 20220701
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Disaster resilience; Fires; Housing; Impact studies; Land use planning; Population forecasting; Population movements; Surveys; Travel demand
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01717766
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: Caltrans 65A0686 Task Order 039
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 20 2019 4:44PM