FIREPATH: Wildfire Evacuation Optimization in Rio Arriba County Using High-Performance Computing

Wildfires are a serious threat to communities in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. During emergencies, limited road access, traffic congestion, and rapidly changing fire conditions can make evacuations difficult. Through this project, I want to investigate how high-performance computing (HPC) can help develop safer and more efficient evacuation strategies for communities throughout Rio Arriba County.

My project, FIREPATH, will use computer simulations to model wildfire spread, weather conditions, road networks, traffic congestion, and population distribution within Rio Arriba County. I plan to create different wildfire scenarios by changing variables such as wind speed, wind direction, fire location, road capacity, and evacuation routes. I will also compare strategies, including alternative routes, staggered evacuations, and coordinated traffic management.

Using high-performance computing, I hope to run hundreds or thousands of simulations to identify evacuation strategies that remain effective under different wildfire conditions. I will analyze the results by measuring evacuation times, traffic congestion, the number of residents reaching safety, and emergency vehicle response delays. I will also compare computational runtimes to demonstrate the advantages of HPC.

The goal of FIREPATH is to explore how computer science and engineering can improve emergency preparedness in Rio Arriba County. By identifying effective evacuation strategies, this project could provide valuable insights for protecting residents and helping local communities prepare for future wildfires.

Research Question: How can high-performance computing optimize wildfire evacuation strategies to reduce evacuation times, minimize traffic congestion, and improve emergency response in Rio Arriba County?