Evacuation Behavior during Wildfires: Results of Three Case Studies

Abstract

Evacuation of rural communities threatened by wildfires is occurring more often, particularly in the western United States. Residents, public safety officials, community leaders, and public land managers are facing the issues and problems of this new experience. We used semi-structured interviews to elicit the evacuation experience from the viewpoint of evacuees and public safety officials in three case studies of wildfire evacuations in the western United States during 2000 and 2002. (Our interviews were conducted only with Teller County residents and officials.) We identify and describe the stages of the evacuation process as experienced by evacuees, and the dynamics and dilemmas associated with each stage. We analyze these perceptions and dynamics using the sociological lenses of social construction of meaning and structuration. The results indicate that evacuees and public safety officials have different perceptions and concerns about the evacuation process. We derive lessons learned from these three cases for use in planning future wildfire evacuations.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Or Should I Wait and See? Influences on Wildfire Evacuation Decisions

“…Of note is that two important variables from previous studies were not significant in our study. Specifically, desire to protect one's prop-erty has been suggested as a reason individuals do not evacuate for wildfires (2,26,28,29) as well as for other hazards; (11,13) however, it was not a distinguishing factor in our study. Similarly, although other wildfire studies suggest that those who planned to stay had done more to prepare their property, (26,27,30,32) we did not find such a distinction.…”

“…Response efficacy: a belief the property was relatively safe due to either the nature of the property (irrigated fields) or prior mitigation actions that had been undertaken Individual traits or characteristics: personal beliefs related to a desire to protect the property or a sense of personal responsibility for one's property and a culture of self‐reliance and desire to make one's own decisions …”

“…(24)(25)(26) r Response efficacy: a belief the property was relatively safe due to either the nature of the property (irrigated fields) or prior mitigation actions that had been undertaken. (23,26) r Individual traits or characteristics: personal beliefs related to a desire to protect the property or a sense of personal responsibility for one's property (2,24,26,28,29) and a culture of self-reliance and desire to make one's own decisions. (2,(27)(28)(29) The relatively large number of Australian studies examining wildfire evacuation decisions is due in part to the death of 173 individuals in Victoria, Australia, in the 2009 Black Saturday fires.…”

“…(23,26) r Individual traits or characteristics: personal beliefs related to a desire to protect the property or a sense of personal responsibility for one's property (2,24,26,28,29) and a culture of self-reliance and desire to make one's own decisions. (2,(27)(28)(29) The relatively large number of Australian studies examining wildfire evacuation decisions is due in part to the death of 173 individuals in Victoria, Australia, in the 2009 Black Saturday fires. This led to strong interest in understanding what contributes to the decision to leave early versus stay and defend one's property, as well as why so many tend to wait and see how the event unfolds.…”

Uniting multi‐adult households during emergency evacuation planning

“…As previous literature notes, pets can be an important part of family life and evacuations Cohn, Carroll, and Kumagai, 2006;Dolan and Krug, 2006). Only a limited number of respondents in the sample reported keeping animals-only 15 mentions of animals appear in the interview record.…”