For Want of Defensible Space a Forest is Lost
Homeowners and the Wildfire Hazard and Mitigation in the Residential Wildland Intermix at Incline Village, Nevada
Description:... "In the summer of 2000 the western United States was on fire. Wildfires were front page news for weeks; on the peak activity day there were 84 large fires, over 28,000 people fighting them, and over 1.6 million acres burning. The severity of wildfire hazard results from a complex mix of demographic change, historical fire management policy, and shifting cultural perceptions of resource management. In recent decades more and more people have taken up residence in wildland areas. Because years of fire suppression have created forests and shrublands overloaded with fuel, migrants are moving into tinderboxes. Fire-fighting agencies, resources strained by protecting the growing number of homes, are working to expand their activities beyond putting out fires to minimizing their potential damage. New wildland residents are widely seen as a barrier to these efforts because it is believed that their expectations of fire protection and views of nature conflict with pro-active fire mitigation methods. However, these ideas about wildland residents have never been verified. This study tests the conventional wisdom and identifies factors that foster positive public attitudes towards fire mitigation activities such as creation of defensible space, conducting prescribed burns, and thinning. A mail survey was sent to homeowners in Incline Village, Nevada, a residential wildland intermix community located in a forest ripe for a conflagration and considered to have a proactive fire management program that works closely with town residents. Results indicate that the public's ability to understand the problem's complex nature and to recognize the need for a significant shift in wildfire management (both at the federal and the individual level) is not as limited as many fire managers think. Results show that providing specific information via one-on-one contact is important in increasing acceptance of controversial practices. Modest risk perception led homeowners to create an evacuation plan while only very high risk perception led them to create defensible space. Further, indirect experience of a wildfire was found to play a more positive role than direct experience, and television as an information source had the opposite of the desired impact."--Abstract.
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