The University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center offers several experts who can comment on the wildfires currently engulfing Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California.

  • Jim Kendra and Tricia Wachtendorf, co-directors of the Disaster Research Center, can speak broadly on the evacuation of critical facilities - such as hospitals and skilled nursing facilities - as well as challenges associated with the evacuation process.
  • Joe Trainor, a professor of Public Policy and Administration, specializes in quick-fuse evacuation warnings. Much of his work is on tornado and flash-flood events, but wildfires can have an equally quick evacuation response demand. 
  • Rachel Davidson, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has done fire modeling work as well as transportation evacuation modeling during hurricanes. The latter would also be expertise relevant to the wildfires in Southern California.
  • Graduate student Valerie Marlowe does considerable work on museums and collections during disasters, a relevant topic given the fires' proximity to the Getty Museum.