GIS Analysis of the Bighorn Fire Evacuation Orders

Abstract

The Bighorn Fire of 2020 burned 119,978 acres of the Santa Catalina Mountains and threatened urban interface five days into a forty-nine-day burn. Arizona’s Ready, Set, Go! emergency response evacuation plan was activated to ensure the safety of those residing within the danger zone of the wildfire. Evacuation zones were created specifically for this natural disaster which proved confusing for many residents attempting to determine their location in conjunction with the wildfire. This historical spatial analysis depicts the evacuation orders as they were initiated by the Pima County Office of Emergency Management. For each of the twenty-five Pima County evacuation orders initiated during the Bighorn Fire, ArcGIS Pro was used to map each zone by evacuation order and the correlating evacuation status (Ready, Set, Go!). The evacuation meeting point, as well as the animal sheltering location, have been digitized on each map displaying the distance between the evacuation zones and the meeting points. An ArcGIS StoryMap has been created to narrate the events of the Bighorn Fire. An interactive evacuation map was developed using ArcGIS Web App Builder. Users can enter their address and choose a point on the map to determine the distance, route, and length of time from their house to a safe point outside of the evacuation zones. This project will improve understanding of the events that occurred during this natural disaster and the emergency responses used to ensure the safety of citizens near the urban interface. Additionally, it can be used as a learning tool to improve wildfire evacuation communication with the community as well as community safety education.