Residents were overtaken by fire during their evacuation of the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California. A small town may only have one or two major outbound roads. Temporary Fire Refuge Areas can increase the likelihood of survival if those roads become impassable.
Cal Fire
Wildfires move fast. They can reduce communities to ash in a matter of hours. To save as many lives as possible, officials must have an evacuation and shelter plan in place before an actual wildfire threatens their community.
To support planning efforts, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just updated its guidance on preparing for wildfires based on the latest research and community feedback. Called Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Evacuation and Sheltering Considerations: Assessment, Planning, and Execution (ESCAPE), the report is now available on the NIST website.
This report is especially relevant to the estimated 115 million people in the U.S. who live in areas of high wildfire risk. Many wildfires do not stay confined in remote forests. They can invade neighborhoods and destroy homes, sometimes with only minutes of advance warning. Traditional approaches to evacuation are less effective during such aggressive fires, which can outrun emergency notifications and cut off roads before residents can escape.
"This report can save thousands of lives because it offers a science-backed approach to planning for worst-case scenarios," said lead author Alexander Maranghides, a fire protection engineer at NIST. "We need a rigorous approach because we have seen, time and time again, that these fires are unforgiving."
For more than 120 years, NIST has performed research in fire safety and fire science, including many studies of fires at the wildland-urban interface. NIST frequently investigates past fires to learn lessons that will help save lives in future fires.
NIST released the first version of the ESCAPE report in 2023 in conjunction with a case study on the evacuations during the devastating 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people, incinerated more than 18,000 structures and destroyed the town of Paradise, California. The 2023 report took the lessons learned from that investigation and turned them into practical guidance for emergency managers, first responders and community leaders.
ESCAPE provided communities with tools to prepare before the flames arrive. It was the first guidance of its kind. Thirty communities across California quickly incorporated the guidance into their evacuation planning over the last two years. NIST took their feedback along with information from recent fires to update this latest version of ESCAPE.
Key Changes in the 2025 ESCAPE Guidance
Three of the major changes to the latest version of ESCAPE are updates to guidance about temporary refuge areas, sudden fires and decision zones.
Create 'Temporary Fire Refuge Areas' in Advance
NIST
The ESCAPE report introduces "Temporary Fire Refuge Areas" (TFRAs), pre-designated locations intended to increase survival odds when evacuation is no longer possible.
Evacuation was not an option for many people in Paradise during the Camp Fire. Motorists encountered impassable traffic, and flames cut off escape routes.
First responders quickly improvised and directed evacuees to open spaces with lower fire intensity, such as empty parking lots, cleared fields, and even the middle of wide roadways. NIST's investigation found that these last-minute emergency decisions saved more than 1,200 people during the disaster.
In the 2025 report, TFRAs are a new category of open spaces that are planned out in advance. Pre-planning these safe spaces allows local officials to ensure that there are enough of them, increase their fire resistance, and label them with clear signs.
There are a few other emergency alternatives to evacuation in the report, which are explained in this latest version.
These alternatives are no substitute for evacuation. They do not guarantee safety, but they can increase survival odds for those who can't safely leave the area.
Plan Ahead for 'No-Notice' Evacuations
The Camp Fire trapped many residents before they even received evacuation warnings. Similar disasters, such as the Maui wildfires of 2023, left people with no time to prepare. The updated ESCAPE report emphasizes the importance of pre-planning for no-notice evacuations. This includes ensuring multiple evacuation routes (if possible), pre-designating TFRAs and safety zones, and preparing multiple methods of emergency communication.
Create 'Decision Zones' for Evacuations
Evacuation for a fire that's miles away should look very different from a fire that's about to reach the community. At some point, telling everyone to get in their cars and evacuate is more dangerous than telling them to find shelter in a nearby TFRA. The evacuation strategy should evolve as the fire gets closer, but it's hard to know when to change tactics.
ESCAPE advises that communities map out zones with different risk levels. If a fire crosses over into a more dangerous zone, then emergency responders should start making new decisions about their evacuation plan. The latest version of ESCAPE adds more flexibility to these "Decision Zones," making more room for situational judgment.
Bringing the Science of Wildfire Evacuation to Communities
Now that the report is available, the NIST Wildland-Urban Interface Fire group is focused on working with officials who need to use it. The group collaborates with state and local governments to integrate ESCAPE recommendations into official wildfire response plans. To make the report more accessible, the new version includes fact sheets with summaries of the most important, high-level information.
NIST's experts have also created a new interactive online course that walks users through the core ideas of ESCAPE in a way that's easier to learn from than the full 150-page report. This web tool is available free on the NIST website.
In addition to providing online tools, NIST works alongside fire departments, urban planners and community leaders to promote education campaigns, evacuation preparedness drills and targeted outreach in fire-prone areas, helping them become more resilient and responsive when wildfires strike, not just for individual structures but for the community as a whole.
"Most large buildings have fire evacuation plans," said Maranghides. "In areas where there could be a wildfire, it's just as important to have an evacuation plan for the entire community, including how to respond to no-notice events."
Report: Alexander Maranghides and Eric D. Link. WUI Fire Evacuation and Sheltering Considerations: Assessment, Planning, and Execution (ESCAPE). NIST Technical Note 2262r1. March 2025. DOI: 10.6028/NIST.TN.2262r1
