Project Summary
The recent wildfires in Los Angeles County have exposed severe vulnerabilities in the region’s road network, especially in hillside and canyon neighborhoods. These areas often feature circuitous, poorly connected street layouts with narrow roads and limited evacuation routes, creating dangerous bottlenecks during emergencies. In the January 2025 wildfires, gridlocked traffic at critical choke points forced residents to abandon vehicles, further complicating evacuation efforts and delaying emergency responders. These challenges underscore the urgent need to address inadequate street connectivity in wildfire-prone areas. Poor connectivity hampers the rapid movement of people and resources and increases reliance on personal vehicles, leaving vulnerable populations—such as those without access to cars—at greater risk. Climate change-driven increases in wildfire frequency and intensity exacerbate these risks by raising the likelihood of extreme events that outpace current evacuation and response capabilities.
To tackle these issues, this project has initiated hyperlocal data collection in wildfire-affected regions of Los Angeles using a cutting-edge mobile mapping platform equipped with a Kaarta device. This system captures high-resolution LiDAR and panoramic imagery, enabling precise assessments of road widths, connectivity, and vulnerabilities in real-world conditions. These data will serve as critical inputs for wildfire simulations, aiding in identifying bottlenecks and infrastructure weaknesses. Existing research on wildfire hazards often focuses on evacuation strategies or overall system resilience. Still, it rarely examines how street network design impacts evacuation efficiency and wildfire resilience at a network-wide scale. Furthermore, traditional risk-based approaches fail to consider cascading impacts on interconnected road systems, leaving policymakers without adequate tools for informed retrofitting and investment decisions. This project addresses these gaps by integrating wildfire simulation, connectivity analysis, and resilience assessment to prioritize retrofitting needs. By focusing on safety, connectivity, reliability, and efficiency—and leveraging hyperlocal data—this study will provide actionable recommendations for evacuation planning and infrastructure resilience in Los Angeles County.
