The relationship between well-being and wildfire

In this study, the well-being evaluation method, a technique for measuring individual utility, was used to study how people in the wildland urban interface of Colorado (USA) felt about their lives before and after two hypothetical wildfire scenarios. Variables such as age, family size, fire frequency, and property value were found to affect initial well-being levels. However, if a wildfire were to occur, many variables that initially affected well-being were no longer significant. It was found that after wildfire, the frequency of wildfire occurrence became the most important influence on well-being. These results have several implications for wildfire managers. First, the well-being of Colorado wildland urban interface residents would be enhanced by a reduction in the frequency of high-intensity wildfires. Secondly, an extremely high percentage of respondents were in favor of prescribed burning. Therefore, the reduction of high-intensity fires could not only be accomplished by conducting a rotation of prescribed fires, but that prescribed burning would be accepted by the public living in the wildland urban interface

Investigating the relationship between stakeholder opinion about wildfire management and landscape context using GIS

Colorado residents living in the wildland urban interface (WUI) were asked about their perception of wildfire risk and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for three fire management procedures: fuel reduction by thinning, fire suppression and prescribed fires. Respondent home locations were then digitized to enable the calculation of wildfire danger variables from various GIS map layers. These two processes resulted in perceived and actual wildfire risk variables which were then compared and analyzed. Perceived and actual fire danger variables were then used as explanatory variables in WTP functions. Results show that each fire management technique had different variables that would increase a persons WTP. However, overall, WTP values for each of the approaches were substantial. We believe this information shows that people living in the WUI would be willing-to-pay for an annual “wildfire management fee” to offset risks they consciously take by living in the WUI. This fee could potentially decrease the wildfire management cost burden that is currently incurred by taxpayers

Firewise

The Firewise Home Page was created for people who live or vacation in fire prone areas of North America. The information contained here will help users become firewise individuals, and acquaint them with the challenges of living around interface/intermix wildfire. These pages provide information that may lessen the risk of wildfire loss for individuals, families and communities. There is a list of offline wildfire protection information as well as links to off-site fire resources. There is access to classroom resources prepared by the National Park Service and public TV, as well as downloadable off-line modules, documents and Powerpoint presentations. Educational levels: General public, High school, Middle school

A Comparison of Methodologies for Valuing Decreased Health Effects from Wildfire Smoke

Wildfire seasons are becoming longer and more intense throughout the world, making it increasingly important to monetize the full damages caused by wildfires when analyzing various fire management policies. We estimate the economic costs of the health effects associated with exposure to wildfire smoke using a simple cost of illness approach and for the first time to our knowledge we estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a decrease in symptom days from wildfire smoke using the contingent valuation method and the averting behavior method. Comparing estimates across all three common approaches for estimating the economic cost of exposure to an air pollutant is an important contribution to the literature. This study uses data from the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County’s modern history, the Station Fire of 2009. Our results show that a simple cost of illness estimate is about $3 per day of symptoms, the averting behavior method results in a WTP value of$43 or $94 to avoid one day of wildfire-smoke induced symptom days, depending on the model used, and the contingent valuation method results in a WTP estimate of$74 - $98 to avoid one day of wildfire-smoke induced symptom days, depending on model specification.averting behavior method, contingent valuation method, cost of illness, wildfire smoke, health, morbidity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Q,

The link between perceived and actual wildfire danger: An economic and spatial analysis study in Colorado (USA)

Over the last 20 years, costs for wildfire initial attack in the U.S. have increased significantly. The increased cost relates to wildfire suppression practices as well as the growing number of wildland urban interface (WUI) homes. Requiring WUI residents to pay an annual tax for their wildfire risk would lower costs to the general taxpayer. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) for wildfire prevention, in relation to both perceived and actual wildfire danger, was the focus of this study. Colorado WUI residents had a high awareness of wildfire risk and were willing to pay over $400 annually to reduce this risk. Respondents beliefs about wildfire frequency were comparable to the original natural wildfire regimes of their areas pre-European settlement

University Scholar Series: Craig B. Clements

Groundbreaking Research on Wildfire Weather On November 28, 2012 Craig B. Clements spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Craig Clements is an associate professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science who received a $900,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant for his work in tracking atmospheric conditions in and around wildfires. His work will better help predict wildfire behavior and conditions that could lead to increased wildfire danger.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/uss/1016/thumbnail.jp