Academics / Undergraduate Program / Client Project Challenge / ProjectEvaluating Fire Resiliency in Evanston, IL
We worked with the American Red Cross of the Chicago and Northern Illinois Region (ARCCNIR) to define and determine fire resiliency in Evanston, IL. We obtained data from the Evanston Health and Fire Departments, the 2010 American Community Survey, and TIGER/Line census tracts to identify key factors in forecasting where fire responses occur in addition to where damaging fires occur. Using several different modeling techniques, we found that among the most significant factors were race, college graduation rate, age of home, occupancy rate, rental rate, and percentage of smokers. Going forward, we recommend that ARCCNIR collect more data related to demographics, housing structures, and historical fire instances in the Chicagoland area to develop a more robust and predictive model as well as developing programs based on the key factors identified in order to improve community fire resiliency.
A full report on this project is available by request to jill.wilson@northwestern.edu.
Team: Bradley Herzog, Robert Ludew, Tessa Swanson, and Jessica Zineal
Advisor: Professor Karen Smilowitz