There is plenty of fire engineers who think they are modelling human behaviour... Some claim they can do it... And there is very, very few who actually did and succeeded with it. One of them is today's guest, Dr Erica Kuligowski of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. After two decades of groundbreaking research at NIST, Erica has moved to Australia to seek new challenges related primarily to the mass evacuation of people during bushfire events.  She presents her unique views on modelling human behaviour, but in a vastly more complex way than we consider in buildings.
 
How risk perception threshold impacts when people choose to evacuate?
What mode of transport do they pick?
What interim travels do they take?
Where do they go?
Where do they stay when reaching their target?

These are just a few of the questions a modeller has to answer, and we will try to find out how Erica handles them within her modelling.

If you think this episode will be helpful only to wildfire scientists, you are very wrong. The concepts here are groundbreaking, and if such modelling enters the mainstream, we will soon use the same concepts and ideas in buildings. So, listen carefully; this is our future.

Connect with Erica at:
https://twitter.com/ericakul
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-kuligowski-25261436/

Check the awesome WUINITY project:
https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Wildland-Urban-Interface/WUINITY-a-platform-for-the-simulation-of-wildland-urban-interface-fire-evacuation
And read the WUINITY paper.

--- Useful links ---

• *new* Modelling evacuation of Kincade fire
• Modelling Household Evacuation Behaviour during Bushfires, presented by Dr Erica Kuligowski - Webinar
• Chimney Tops 2 fire paper
• Calibrating wildfire decision model
• Decision making in wildfires - Erica's position paper

Thank you to the SFPE for recognizing me with the 2025 SFPE Fire Safety Engineering Award! Huge thanks to YOU for being a part of this, and big thanks to the OFR for supporting me over the years.

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