How Wildfire Experience Influences Intentions to Adopt Protective Measures over Time

Abstract

In 2022, prolonged periods of extreme heat waves fueled huge wildfires across the globe. While research has shown that past experience with wildfire increases homeowners’ intentions to adopt fire mitigation activities, little is known about whether the impact of disaster can be long-lasting and represent a stable behavioral change. Thus, the current work explored whether Chinese homeowners’ intentions to perform fire wise actions would change over time. In Study 1, we compared responses of residents in a fire-stricken area with those of residents in a nondisaster area three days after a massive wildfire. It was found that participants who had just experienced a wildfire reported a stronger intent to take fire mitigation on both self-report and behavioral measures. Study 2 involved a follow-up survey that took place in the same areas one month after the fire had occurred. The results showed that participants in these two areas demonstrated no differences in intentions to implement fire mitigation measures, which suggests that the impact of disasters decayed over time. Combined, these findings suggest that past experience with wildfire will likely give rise to stronger intention to engage in mitigation behavior but this effect may diminish with time ticking away.