Emergency Evacuation Sweeps

Background

During emergencies such as fires or gas leaks, rapid and orderly evacuation of a building is critical for saving lives. Trained personnel responding to these emergencies (responders) often sweep a building – going from area to area and room to room – to ensure all occupants have evacuated safely or are actively moving towards the exits. This would include visually assessing, if possible, all spaces to confirm that they are empty with the goal of guaranteeing no one is left behind.

The efficiency and strategy behind these sweeps could mean the difference between safety and true peril.

Your team has been asked by the Clearing Of Multi-use Assembly Public/Private spaces (COMAP) with designing a mathematical model to optimize sweeping strategies in multi-floor buildings during emergency evacuations. The goal is to ensure all rooms are cleared in the shortest possible time, while prioritizing occupant safety and responder efficiency. Buildings vary in layout, number of floors, stairwell placement, location of exits, and occupancy patterns while responders face pressure to act quickly with sometimes limited information. These considerations must be included in your analysis.