Data Tools Are Helping Inform Natural Disaster Response

Federal and local governments are using advanced geospatial tools to empower communities to assess risks and make informed decisions around natural disasters and emergencies.

Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, for example, launched the “Know Your Zone” map that allows residents to enter their address and determine whether they are in a high-risk hurricane evacuation zone ahead of what officials are calling potentially record-breaking destruction from Hurricane Milton.

“With an evacuation this size, people need to easily and quickly understand their risk and the zones help with that. That is why this map is so important,” said Ryan Lanclos, director of national government and public safety solutions at Esri, the software company that provides the technology and data powering the map.

The technology powers other tools like the Wildland Urban Interface Fire Property Awareness Explorer and Fire Community Awareness Explorer supporting residents and fire service agencies regarding wildfire risks.

“One-third of the U.S. population today lives in a wildland-urban interface, and many of them have no idea that that’s where they live,” U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell told GovCIO Media & Research. “The unfortunate part is that some of these communities have … previously been forested areas, and they’ve been cleared for building. These concepts in these communities are built often in the path of historic fire.”

Moore-Merrell noted how the tools are helping inform people in communities that are more susceptible to wildfires and provide resources to prepare for future emergencies.

“Fires start and spread to geographic locations. Every event happens somewhere so geospatial data is key to understanding,” she said. “Geolocation is the foundation of the information we can share.”

The tools pull data available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and layers it over geographic locations to deliver real intelligence. For example, the tool informs users how far embers can spread.

“We had to bring in our big data team and leverage and some pretty creative thinking around how to crunch all of that data so it can be loaded at the snap of a finger,” said Anthony Schultz, director of wildland fire solutions at Esri. “You can type in your address, zoom in and get a good look at whether you live in either the ember zone or the intermix or not.”

Moore-Merrell hopes the tools will continue to develop to provide information about safe havens. Often there is only one place to enter or exit during an emergency, which can become congested. Safe havens could be an alternative for community members to escape the hazards of wildfires.

“We‘re working with Esri on this to identify what we’re calling temporary refuge areas or areas of last resort,” Moore-Merrell said. “We’re going to tell you in the future where to go rather than just go. This is the next layer we have to add.”