Insights Into Wildfire Mitigation Decisions Among Wildland–Urban Interface Residents

Brenkert–Smith, Hannah; Champ, Patricia A.; Flores, Nicholas E.

doi:10.1080/08941920600801207

Cited by 127 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…A number of studies have suggested that homeowners located in fire-prone wildland-urban interface areas tend to understand that their homes are at risk of wildfire and do conduct at least some risk mitigation activities as a result (e.g., Nelson et al 2004, Brenkert-Smith et al 2006, McCaffrey 2008, Steelman 2008, Kyle et al 2010, Dickinson et al 2015. These findings appear to be consistent across geographic locations and different research methodologies (McCaffrey and Olsen 2012).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…TREES PER HECTARE, which was derived from the GNN Forest Structure Model (Ohmann and Gregory 2002), describes the average tree density within a 1-km radius of each survey respondent's home, as a proxy measure of the presence of forest fuel that homeowners may perceive. Following with previous risk perception research (e.g., Brenkert-Smith et al 2006, McCaffrey 2008, Martin et al 2009), we expected that these variables might have a positive influence on respondents' wildfire risk perceptions and mitigation likelihood, suggesting that respondents are making risk assessments in line with experts' assessments (reflected in the model output).…”

Section: Explanatory Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We assumed that the likelihood of wildfire and the likelihood of damage constitute the two principle components of wildfire risk (Brenkert-Smith et al 2006), such that PERCEIVED RISK * can be defined as:…”

Section: Empirical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland–urban interface homeowners’ wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Olsen¹,

Kline²,

Ager³

et al. 2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Expansion of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and the increasing size and number of wildfires has policy-makers and wildfire managers seeking ways to reduce wildfire risk in communities located near fire-prone forests. It is widely acknowledged that homeowners can reduce their exposure to wildfire risk by using nonflammable building materials and reducing tree density near the home, among other actions. Although these actions can reduce the vulnerability of homes to wildfire, many homeowners do not take them. We examined the influence of risk factors on homeowners' perceived wildfire risk components using a survey of WUI homeowners in central Oregon (USA) and biophysical data that described wildfire risk as predicted by wildfire simulation models, past wildfire, and vegetation characteristics. Our analysis included homeowners' perceptions of the likelihood of wildfire and resulting damage, and examined how these factors contribute to homeowners' likelihood to conduct mitigation actions. We developed an empirical model of homeowners' risk perceptions and mitigation behavior, which served as input into an agent-based model to examine potential landscape and behavior changes over 50 years. We found homeowners' wildfire risk perceptions to be positively correlated with hazardous conditions predicted by fuel models and weakly predictive of mitigation behavior. Homeowners' perceived chance of wildfire was positively correlated with actual probability of wildfire, while their perceived chance of damage to the home was positively correlated with potential wildfire intensity. Wildfire risk perceptions also were found to be correlated with past wildfire experience. Our results suggest that homeowners may be savvy observers of landscape conditions, which act as "feedbacks" that enhance homeowners' concerns about wildfire hazard and motivate them to take mitigation action. Alternatively, homeowners living in hazardous locations are somehow receiving the message that they need to take protective measures. Mitigation compliance output from the agent-based model suggests that completion of mitigation actions is likely to increase over 50 years under various scenarios.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Explanatory Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland–urban interface homeowners’ wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Olsen¹,

Kline²,

Ager³

et al. 2017

E&S

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“…SoC encompasses members' feelings of belonging, the belief that members matter to one another and to the group, and encompasses the existence of a shared faith that members' needs will be met through their commitment to be together (McMillan and Chavis, 1986). Second, SoC has a history of informing understanding of effective communication in disaster readiness and recovery settings (Paton et al, 2001(Paton et al, , 2014Carroll et al, 2005;Brenkert-Smith et al, 2006;Keller et al, 2006;Hodgson, 2007;Cottrell et al, 2008;Paton and Tedim, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication, Sense of Community, and Disaster Recovery: A Facebook Case Study

Paton

Irons

2016

Front. Commun.

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Disasters create an urgent need for people to deal with novel emergent problems. To respond effectively, people require information (about the event, support resources, actions, etc.) and the ability to interpret and use available information to deal with diverse, emergent hazard consequences and demands over time. This diversity renders top-down, homogeneous approaches to disaster communication ineffective. This paper examines whether a social media-based communication strategy, using Facebook, represents a more effective way of accommodating this diversity (e.g., event impacts, geographical, demographic, social), meeting the information needs of affected populations, and enhancing the quality of disaster communication. Data on how 479 people who used a Facebook page (Tassie Fires -We Can Help) specifically developed to assist response and recovery for the 2011 Tasmanian wildfire/bushfire disaster were obtained using an open-ended questionnaire. The accounts of people's experience of the event and their engagement with the Facebook page obtained from their responses to the questionnaire were analyzed using thematic analysis. The paper also discusses evidence regarding how the development of functional social relationships among those who engaged via the page enhanced the effectiveness of the disaster communication process. In particular, it discusses how engagement with the page and the way the page was managed by the Administrator facilitated the development of Sense of Community, a social structural characteristic known to influence the quality of disaster communication. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implication of the findings for future research into the relationship between Facebook use, disaster communication, and disaster recovery.Keywords: social media, sense of community, leadership, online community, disaster communication, disaster response inTrODUcTiOn Disasters expose affected citizens and social systems to demands and consequences that fall well outside the usual realm of people's experience. The complexity and novelty of these demands and consequences requires people, individually and collectively, to develop creative solutions to emergent problems. Disaster communication plays a pivotal role in providing the information people need to respond to these problems. While disaster communication has predominantly been the province of formal response agencies (e.g., emergency services etc.), online emergent groups are increasingly playing active roles in communication and information exchange (Blanchard et al., 2010;Vieweg et al., 2010).This paper presents a case study of disaster communication using a Facebook page [Tassie Fires -We Can Help (TFWCH)] specifically set up to provide a medium for communication during the response and recovery for a wildfire (bushfire) disaster in Tasmania, Australia in 2013. The study explored people's interpretation of their experience and how information made available using a Facebook resource influenced the nature and effectiveness of community-based d...

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“…Wildfire risk, we assume, includes both the likelihood of wildfire and the likelihood of damage (e.g., Brenkert-Smith et al 2006). Actors may be influenced by combinations of internal factors (e.g., wildfire risk perceptions, mitigation costs, and local forest conditions) and external factors (e.g., federal, tribal, and state land management policies, timber markets, and regional demographic trends) (Steelman 2010, Steelman andMcCaffery 2011).…”

Section: Study Context and Social Science Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating social science into empirical models of coupled human and natural systems

Kline¹,

White²,

Fischer³

et al. 2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) research highlights reciprocal interactions (or feedbacks) between biophysical and socioeconomic variables to explain system dynamics and resilience. Empirical models often are used to test hypotheses and apply theory that represent human behavior. Parameterizing reciprocal interactions presents two challenges for social scientists:(1) how to represent human behavior as influenced by biophysical factors and integrate this into CHANS empirical models; (2) how to organize and function as a multidisciplinary social science team to accomplish that task. We reflect on these challenges regarding our CHANS research that investigated human adaptation to fire-prone landscapes. Our project sought to characterize the forest management activities of land managers and landowners (or "actors") and their influence on wildfire behavior and landscape outcomes by focusing on biophysical and socioeconomic feedbacks in central Oregon (USA). We used an agent-based model (ABM) to compile biophysical and social information pertaining to actor behavior, and to project future landscape conditions under alternative management scenarios. Project social scientists were tasked with identifying actors' forest management activities and biophysical and socioeconomic factors that influence them, and with developing decision rules for incorporation into the ABM to represent actor behavior. We (1) briefly summarize what we learned about actor behavior on this fire-prone landscape and how we represented it in an ABM, and (2) more significantly, report our observations about how we organized and functioned as a diverse team of social scientists to fulfill these CHANS research tasks. We highlight several challenges we experienced, involving quantitative versus qualitative data and methods, distilling complex behavior into empirical models, varying sensitivity of biophysical models to social factors, synchronization of research tasks, and the need to substitute spatial for temporal variation in social data and models, among others. We offer recommendations that other research teams might consider when collaborating with social scientists in CHANS research.

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Insights Into Wildfire Mitigation Decisions Among Wildland–Urban Interface Residents

Cited by 127 publications

References 5 publications

Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland–urban interface homeowners’ wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland–urban interface homeowners’ wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Communication, Sense of Community, and Disaster Recovery: A Facebook Case Study

Integrating social science into empirical models of coupled human and natural systems

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Insights Into Wildfire Mitigation Decisions Among Wildland–Urban Interface Residents

Cited by 127 publications

References 5 publications

Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland&#8211;urban interface homeowners&#8217; wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland&#8211;urban interface homeowners&#8217; wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Communication, Sense of Community, and Disaster Recovery: A Facebook Case Study

Integrating social science into empirical models of coupled human and natural systems

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Product

Resources

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Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland–urban interface homeowners’ wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes

Examining the influence of biophysical conditions on wildland–urban interface homeowners’ wildfire risk mitigation activities in fire-prone landscapes