Abstract
As fast-moving wildfires increasingly threaten large metropolitan regions, evacuation outcomes depend not only on risk perception but on the transportation systems available to households under extreme conditions. This talk synthesizes findings from surveys and interviews with regular public transit riders affected by the 2025 Los Angeles firestorms. Results show that households without access to a private vehicle were more likely to evacuate using transit or walking and experienced longer evacuation times and additional logistical challenges. Across both car-owning and non-car-owning households, reliance on rides from non-household contacts was common, highlighting the role of informal transportation arrangements during emergencies. However, the strongest predictor of mode use during evacuation was pre-fire mobility patterns: riders evacuated by the modes they used most often in daily life. Respondents also reported physical and mental health impacts associated with smoke exposure and displacement.
Dr. Matthew Palm is an Assistant Professor in City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research examines how barriers in transportation systems affect access to essential activities like medical care, school, and work, aiming to help planners design systems that maximize overall public benefit while minimizing unintended harms. He received his PhD from U.C.
Davis in Geography and has published extensively on transportation topics in the United States and Canada.
