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Living with Wildfire in Arizona: A Homeowner Survey of Risk Perceptions, Mitigation Actions, and Educational Preferences

The wildland fire risk in Arizona is increasing due to shifting land uses, growing residential communities, and changing climate. As the fire hazard increases, land managers and fire educators are faced with educating wildland-urban interface residents about their risk to influence homeowner behavior. To determine how homeowners perceive their risk and what information they use to make decisions about risk and mitigation, this study surveyed residents in previously identified high risk areas in Arizona in three different vegetation types. Results show that ponderosa pine residents are more savvy about their risk and more active in mitigating that risk. Grassland and desert scrub residents consistently report a lower perceived risk to wildland fire than their forest counterparts and perform less mitigation. Results suggest that grassland and desert scrub communities may benefit from the production and dissemination of fire-related materials detailing risk specific to these areas.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/193369
Date January 2008
CreatorsDolan, Corrine Mae
ContributorsHalvorson, William, Halvorson, William, Daniel, Terry
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Electronic Thesis
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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