Critical Path Data Science
Critical Path Data Science provides a decision-science platform with simulation and optimization tools for fire and emergency-management professionals. The platform simulates fire spread at 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-hour horizons, counts structures and census block groups at risk, and supports scenario branching to compare tactical responses. A High-Risk Ignition Finder uses inverse multi-objective optimization to identify the most concerning ignition points for structures and people.
- Government Technology
- Data & Analytics
- Software Only
Funding
Founders
Founder details are not available yet.
Product
Problem
Fire and emergency-management professionals often lack tools to rapidly explore where a wildfire could go, leaving them to make reactive decisions under pressure. Traditional planning approaches do not easily support testing different response timelines or comparing alternative tactical moves before an incident occurs.
Solution
Critical Path Data Science provides a decision-science platform with simulation and optimization tools that help fire and emergency professionals explore fire spread, population risk, and preparation strategies. Users can click a point on an interactive map to see simulated 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-hour spread contours with structures and census block groups at risk counted for each horizon. The platform also supports scenario branching, allowing planners to place control lines, engines, and tanker drops at the moment they would arrive and then re-simulate from that point while keeping an untouched baseline on screen for contrast. A High-Risk Ignition Finder uses inverse multi-objective optimization to work backward from targets to identify county ignitions of greatest concern for structures and for people. Evacuation alert staging helps plan wave-by-wave alert schedules that balance road capacity against simulated fire arrival, aiming to clear zones before fire reaches them.
Target Audience
Primary users are fire-management professionals and emergency-management planners at county, state, and federal agencies who need simulation tools to prepare for and rehearse wildfire response.
Features
- Interactive fire map with simulated spread contours at 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-hour horizons, including counts of structures and census block groups at risk per horizon
- Level-set fire spread simulation operating on real fuel and terrain rasters, the same model class used in operational forecasting
- Live data integration pulling NOAA forecast weather at run time, plus building footprints and census vulnerability data for consequence estimates
- High-Risk Ignition Finder using inverse multi-objective optimization to search scenario space for worst-case ignitions and best-value responses
- Scenario branching capability letting users compare two different tactical moves from the same decision point with an untouched baseline displayed on screen
- Evacuation alert staging tools that plan wave-by-wave alert schedules balancing road capacity against modeled fire arrival times