Adaptive path planning for arriving at firelines in dynamic wildfires and complex landscapes

Timely deployment of firefighting efforts during the early stages of wildfires is essential to minimize disaster losses. However, complex landscapes and dynamic wildfire behaviors pose significant challenges to firefighters’ rapid arrival at firelines. This paper introduces an adaptive path planning model designed to provide optimal routes in such dynamic environments. A “wildfire–environment–personnel” (WEP) framework was proposed to capture the spatiotemporal interactions among key elements of wildfire scenarios. By integrating a wildfire spread model and a firefighter travel model, the framework simulates the dynamic interplay between wildfires and personnel in wildland settings. A WEP-based model was tailored to calculate adaptive routes from the starting point to the dynamic fireline. Model validation was conducted with a wildfire-prone area in Foshan city as the study site. In an experimental scenario, our model demonstrated a significant advantage over traditional methods, reducing arrival time by more than 60% and accurately identifying the dynamic intersection point of the fireline. These findings underscore the model’s potential for practical application in real-world wildfire suppression and rescue operations.