Advanced Evacuation Planning for Wind-Driven Fires in the Pikes Peak Region
Applying lessons from recent wind-driven fires to develop a data-informed regional evacuation plan for Colorado’s Front Range.
The Situation
Our client, the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management (PPROEM), which serves Colorado Springs and El Paso County, CO, aimed to improve its ability to quickly evacuate large parts of the community in the event of a fast-moving, wind-driven fire.
With an increasing number of days when “red flag warning” and “high-wind warning” overlap in the region, PPROEM set out to develop an Advanced Evacuation Plan, specific to wind-driven fires, in the built environment, based on three key elements.
Be data-driven. The planning process needed to leverage AI platforms and incorporate available data into evacuation scenarios.
Apply lessons learned. The planning process needed to incorporate lessons from high-profile wind-driven fires, such as the 2025 Los Angeles Fires, the 2023 Lahaina Fire in Maui, the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder, CO, and the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, CA.
Be locally informed. The strategies and tactics needed to be determined, informed, and vetted by the organizations and subject matter experts responsible for implementing them.
The combination of these factors focused the planning process, bringing together stakeholders and participants from more than 54 agencies, jurisdictions, and departments to prepare for the evolving threats and hazards the Pikes Peak region faces.
The CP Journal’s Approach
To accomplish the project’s goals, The CP Journal partnered with PPROEM leadership team to design a planning process that would bring together the large number of stakeholders and response partners from across the region and develop an actionable and adaptable evacuation framework.
The final planning process navigated through three distinct phases that were designed to improve upon key aspects of the region’s evacuation capability.
Phase 1 | Executive Orientation. Building on the preparations led by PPROEM in the nine months before the project started, the planning process began with a series of briefings, presentations, and Q&A sessions with elected officials, agency administrators, and leaders from government and public safety across the region.
The purpose of these briefings was to establish a baseline understanding of the threat of wind-driven fires in the built environment in the region, secure the participation of operational leaders from each participating agency, and set planning outcomes that would influence the project’s success.
Phase 2 | The Planning Process. To develop the Advanced Evacuation Plan, The CP Journal facilitated a series of planning meetings alongside PPROEM staff with key stakeholders at each session. This included:
Initial, Midterm, and Final Planning Meetings. These meetings with the full planning team were designed to establish or validate key sections of the plan, such as the plan’s objective, scope, the evacuation strategy, and re-entry considerations.
Functional Workgroups. The planning process involved seven sessions with selected stakeholders and subject matter experts to develop key elements of the plan, such as public safety operations, alert and warning systems, transportation planning, sheltering, and public communication.
As a result of each step in the planning process, The CP Journal drafted plan content and job aids for participants to review and provide feedback. Recognizing that a large-scale evacuation might be necessary before the project’s completion, the goal was to make meaningful improvements to evacuation operations at each stage of the planning process.
Phase 3 | Plan Training and Validation. As the final step in the planning process, The CP Journal facilitated a training session and conducted a tabletop exercise for PPROEM and the planning team. These two events allowed for final refinements and presentation of the newly developed Advanced Evacuation Plan and supported the region’s next steps in its evacuation capabilities: training and awareness for public safety professionals.
According to PPROEM Director, Andrew Notbohm, “For us, a disaster management capability isn’t just having a plan or purchasing a piece of technology or equipment. A capability relies on the people who will execute the plan and use the available tools to serve our community.
This planning process allowed us to pursue that goal, bringing the region’s stakeholders together and creating a plan that enables the follow-on training required for a well-coordinated evacuation.”
Meet The Client | Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management
Located on the Southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management serves as the backbone of disaster coordination, preparedness, and recovery for the City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County, Colorado.
With a mission to strengthen resilience across the entire community, the 13 members of the PPROEM team address some of the most complex and varied challenges in emergency management, safeguarding Colorado’s most populous county and its 700,000+ residents. Their region includes:
The home of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Fort Carson (U.S. Army), and two U.S. Space Force bases—a concentration of national defense installations unique to the region.
22 distinct fire protection districts and departments across urban and rural landscapes.
Located in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) at the base of the Rocky Mountain Front Range, the region faces frequent and high-stakes natural hazards, including wildfires, flooding, and even earthquakes.
Thousands of special events are hosted by the region’s several colleges and universities, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and community organizations.
Project Outcomes
At the end of the project, The CP Journal delivered an Advanced Evacuation Plan that included:
Nine different consideration-based checklists to guide public safety performance and inform decision-making during a wind-driven fire.
Applied the findings of AI-powered evacuation modeling tools to base the plan on informed, data-driven assumptions about the time required to evacuate various high-risk areas across the Pikes Peak region.
Lessons learned from wind-driven fires and the pre-fire roles and responsibilities when dangerous conditions are forecasted. As a result of the planning process, the National Weather Service’s Pueblo office revised its alert and warning policies and practices to include the creation of “particularly dangerous situation” (PDS) criteria to enhance their coordination and support for the Pikes Peak Region.
As The CP Journal’s co-founder, Patrick Van Horne, explained, “While wind-driven fires are catastrophic incidents, they are not ‘no-notice events.’ They are preceded by specific weather conditions and environmental factors, such as drought and high winds, that can be forecasted.
What is impressive about this planning process is the region’s commitment to identifying and establishing decision thresholds—the watch points and action points that precede a wind-driven fire.
These criteria will allow the public safety agencies to proactively recognize dangerous conditions, communicate with their community when those thresholds are met, and pre-position resources should a fire start. That is what getting left of bang looks like in practice.”
The Advanced Evacuation Plan provided PPROEM and its partners with more than just a document—it offered a shared framework for action. The planning process fostered regional alignment, guided operational decisions, and laid the foundation for ongoing training and exercises. It’s a model for how local collaboration and data-driven foresight can transform lessons from past disasters into preparedness for the next one.
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