Community Evacuation Planning for Bushfires Using Agent-Based Simulation

We present a proof-of-concept agent-based simulation tool, for use in training by emergency services in Australia, for planning community evacuations in the event of a severe bushfire threat. The tool allows Incident Controller personnel to interactively schedule the evacuation of a town area, by sub-region, and then evaluate the effectiveness of their plan in terms of traffic flow and overall evacuation time. A bird's eye view gives immediate visual feedback as the evacuation unfolds, while a non-interactive mode allows the scenario to be rerun hundreds to times, and results aggregated, to build further confidence in the chosen schedule.