Many communities aren’t ready for wildfire evacuations. Here’s what they can do

When the Palisades Fire exploded, people rushed to their cars to evacuate, but found the roads clogged with traffic. As the flames approached, police officers told drivers to flee on foot. The abandoned cars were later cleared with a bulldozer.

The scene echoed evacuations from other recent wildfires, ones with far deadlier results. In both California’s Camp Fire in 2018 and in Lahaina, Maui in 2023, residents died in their cars or fleeing on foot when the streets were blocked with standstill traffic and they were overtaken by the blaze.

With wildfires spreading faster as the climate gets hotter, evacuation is becoming even more critical. In high winds, like those Los Angeles saw this week, firefighters have little chance of slowing or stopping the blaze. Getting people out is the only option.

Still, many communities are lagging on evacuation planning, studies have found. And many face similar chokepoints, with narrow, winding roads making it difficult for residents to get safely out of neighborhoods.

“There are hundreds, if not thousands of communities like this, even just in the U.S. West, let alone worldwide,” says Tom Cova, a professor of geography at the University of Utah who studies evacuation. “We need to do everything we can to make this go smoothly. The worse the egress and the greater the fire risk, the more there’s a need for this.”

In some communities, local residents have helped lead wildfires preparation efforts, creating all-volunteer fire councils that help identify evacuation routes and assist homeowners in making their houses more resistant to wildfire.

“Our fire-prone areas are also beautiful areas, but we’ve realized that with that opportunity to live in a place like that comes a responsibility,” says Ryan Ulyate, resident of Topanga Canyon and co-president of the Topanga Canyon Fire Safe Council. “And that means you’ve got to do more.”

Communities unprepared for large-scale evacuations

With the powerful Santa Ana winds topping 60 miles per hour, the fires in Los Angeles grew explosively within hours of starting. In those conditions, firefighters had little hope of containing the spread.

“California has some of the largest numbers and best trained firefighters probably in the world,” says Michele Steinberg, wildfire division director at the National Fire Protection Association. “Even with that, there simply are not enough people and resources to attack all these fires simultaneously and to deal with the fact that the wind is pushing them that fast. That is the reality.”

When people in the Pacific Palisades got an alert to evacuate, they found many roads with standstill traffic. Tucked away in the hills, the neighborhood has few main roads going in and out. As the wildfire advanced, police told drivers to get out and continue on foot. Sitting in traffic is perilous during an extreme fire. In both the Camp Fire and Lahaina Fire, people died in their cars or on the street as they fled.

Evacuation planning is largely done by local governments, but the level of preparation varies greatly. In a review of 11 wildfires in California, one study found that some local governments were not prepared, and “nearly all agencies do not have the public resources to adequately and swiftly evacuate all populations in danger.” Other studies have found many communities around the country lack adequate routes for evacuation.

What communities can do

Technology is coming to the aid of some communities. For those that can afford commissioning studies, computer simulations can show how long it will take to evacuate neighborhoods and where the critical bottlenecks are. Some systems are being used by fire departments during wildfires to make evacuations more efficient. If there’s time, evacuating people by zones sequentially can help traffic flow, since it prevents too many cars leaving at the same time.

Communications are critical during wildfires, especially to alert people when it’s time to leave. Many communities use Wireless Emergency Alerts, which sends text messages to everyone within specific geographic locations. But cell service often goes down during wildfires, so having alternate ways of getting the message out is key. Some communities have installed sirens that can play messages, giving detailed directions about what to do.

Still, in extreme fires, even the best evacuation plans may fall short. Many communities have grown substantially, allowing building over decades without adequate evacuation planning, especially given a dire need for housing in places like California.

“I think the stage is set over a long period of time, decades of development of certain types of homes that are in flammable regions with no egress,” Cova says. “And then you have first responders and emergency managers that are charged with dealing with it and it’s a losing proposition.”

One solution is building new evacuation routes, but that’s a challenging prospect in heavily developed areas. After their devastating fires, both Paradise and Lahaina saw an opportunity to improve roads and connect neighborhoods with limited egress. But building new roads or expanding existing ones often requires going through private property. A major road project in Paradise is costing hundreds of millions of dollars, far exceeding what the city can pay for on its own after being hit with a disaster.

Community groups stepping in

As Ryan Ulyate prepared to evacuate his Topanga Canyon home, he stayed surprisingly calm. The Palisades Fire was encroaching on the area, but he had spent years helping prepare his community for wildfires. He already had a checklist about what to take ahead of time and quickly packed his car.

“When the evacuation order was given, I got in the car and said goodbye to my house,” he says. “And I’m hoping that when I return there will be a house there.”

Ulyate helped create the Topanga Canyon Fire Safe Council in 2010, after he felt there weren’t enough discussions about the wildfire risk. Topanga Canyon has one road leading in and out, making it extremely vulnerable to fast-moving fires. The council helped lead a project with authorities to clear the flammable vegetation along the road, in order to make it safer during an evacuation.

His group also helps educate homeowners about how to make their houses more resistant to wildfire. Wildfires are largely spread through embers that are driven far from the fire itself, which can ignite trees, roof shingles or even dried leaves sitting in gutters. Clearing flammable brush and vegetation, especially in the area directly around the house, is a key, as well as using fire-resistant siding and roofs when home upgrades are done. Studies show some of these improvements have saved houses in previous fires.

“People are receptive, but we still have a long way to go,” he says. “It’s not something that everybody knows about. We’ve educated a certain amount of people, but in order for this to really be successful, entire communities need to do these kinds of things.”

Around the country, more local volunteers are creating fire councils and participating in the Firewise USA program, run by the National Fire Protection Association. It gives communities guidance and checklists on how to improve their fire safety. It often creates a pathway for citizens to work with local officials and help spur key discussions about evacuation.

A key thing, Steinberg says, is not to assume the preparation has already been done.

“The bigger the problem, the less the concern,” Steinberg says. “It’s a well-studied phenomenon apparently that the bigger and scarier the problem, the more likely people are to think that someone else is taking care of it. And I would say wildfire is the perfect example of that kind of thing.”