Original title: Multilingual Agent System for Inclusive Wildfire Evacuation Guidance
Shruti Kulkarni, Lynn Tong, Aditi Namboodiripad, Chelyah Miller +4 · September 2026
Wildfire seasons are now 84 days longer than they were in the 1970s. When fires break out, public agencies send emergency warnings. Yet over 80% of these alerts are only in English, leaving behind the 26 million people in the US with limited English proficiency. To solve this, researchers built BEACON. It is a system that gives personalized evacuation help in the user's preferred language. The system pulls wildfire boundaries, evacuation orders, and shelter locations. If a user is close to the fire, BEACON pairs their real-time GPS location with weather data to predict danger levels. When danger threatens, it creates safe escape paths that steer clear of fire zones. The app also features a multilingual chatbot, builds custom checklist reminders, and automatically switches every screen to the language the person used most recently. This gives vulnerable communities clear, vital guidance to escape safely.
Imagine you're in a neighborhood when a fire alarm goes off, but all the instructions are shouted in a language you don't speak. You can't understand where to run or what to grab, so you hesitate while others leave. In this paper, the system provides evacuation guidance in the language you use, giving you clear, personalized directions based on where you are and how the fire is moving.
In the US, 26 million people have limited English proficiency, but most emergency alerts are only in English. This system ensures they receive life-saving evacuation guidance in their own language during wildfires.
The abstract doesn't specify any limitations of the system. It focuses on the development and features, but doesn't discuss potential issues like data reliability, system coverage, or performance under stress.
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Multilingual Agent System for Inclusive Wildfire Evacuation Guidance — Shruti Kulkarni, Lynn Tong, Aditi Namboodiripad et al.
Abstract licence: CC0
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.