Incorporating intelligence for typical evacuation under the threat of fire spreading

Having to escape from a moving threat, such as a fire, is a tremendously frightening event during an evacuation. Evacuees' decisions in such circumstances could be better made with an awareness of fire dynamics and potential risks. Rationality is a human factor which has an essential role in accomplishing typical evacuation in emergency situations. In this article, the authors propose a rule-based exit choice model in which the simulated individuals are provided with the assessment of exit's disutility and decision-making capability for selecting and reselecting exits due to the evacuation dynamics. The model allows for the simulation of systematic crowd distribution at exits up until the end of the evacuation process, thereby accomplishing a more efficient evacuation. For further refinement, we allow the individuals to predict the dynamics of the fire spreading and involve its effect on the individuals' assessment. We consider a precaution time for each individual as an essential parameter to guarantee safety from the fire spreading or equivalent risk. Simulations are performed and the discussion of fast and safe decision-making are introduced.