Some residents concerned over use of AI to create new wildfire evacuation plan in Pikes Peak Region
Julia Donovan
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -The Pikes Peak Region is now using artificial intelligence to help with a new wildfire evacuation plan. We spoke with Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management officials who addressed some concerns about whether this was a responsible decision.
The Office of Emergency Management wants to be abundantly clear: they’re using AI as a tool. They say it’s not making the final call on how we evacuate during something as dangerous as wildfires.
“These fires are moving faster than traditional fires,” Andrew Notbohm, Director at the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management, said about recent wildfires Wednesday.
Notbohm says it’s the rapid spread of more recent fires like the Marshall Fire in Boulder that Ladris, the AI technology, takes into account – as well as traffic patterns, road maps and local population data – to simulate different evacuation scenarios.
But, Notbohm says the technology won’t necessarily create the new evacuation plan itself.
“We’re able to then analyze where we’re going to have traffic concerns or bottlenecks, and then we’ll optimize how we want to evacuate based on the results of that software,” he explained.
Members of Westside Watch – a neighborhood organization that has fought for wildfire safety – tell KRDO they’re glad officials in the Pikes Peak Region are working toward a new wildfire evacuation plan.
“We are cautiously optimistic,” said Kat Gayle. “We have been working to get the city to use what they call evacuation modeling for the last six years.”
Kat still worries Ladris could be inaccurate and misleading, despite having been approved by wildfire evacuation experts right here in Colorado.
She thinks it might downplay the number of cars and other vehicles evacuating, and misrepresent crowded event centers.
“Yay we’re here. Let’s roll it out. And, let’s not be afraid if people point out potential weaknesses,” Kat said. “Let’s solve them, because this is about our lives.”
Officials say they’ll still consider public input, in addition to the recommendations made by the new technology.
We also asked if the new AI software will be used when deciding where new housing developments should be built. Officials with El Paso County and the City of Colorado Springs said that hasn’t been discussed yet.