Abstract
COVID-19 has complicated wildfire management and public safety for the 2020 fire season. It is unclear whether COVID-19 has impacted the ability of residents in the wildland-urban interface to prepare for and evacuate from wildfire, or the extent to which residents feel their household's safety has been affected. Several areas with high wildfire risk are also experiencing record numbers of COVID-19 cases, including the state of Arizona in the southwestern United States. We conducted a mixed-mode survey of households in close proximity to two recent wildfires in rural Arizona to better understand whether residents living in the wildland-urban interface perceive COVID-19 as a factor in wildfire safety. Preliminary data suggest that the current challenges around collective action to address wildfire risk may be further exacerbated due to COVID-19, and that the current pandemic has potentially widened existing disparities in household capacity to conduct wildfire risk mitigation activities in the wildland-urban interface. Proactive planning for wildfire has also increased perceived ability to practice safe distancing from others during evacuation, highlighting the benefits that household planning for wildfire can have on other concurrent hazards. Parallels in both the wildfire and pandemic literature highlight vast opportunities for future research that can expand upon and advance our findings.
Highlights
Both public and firefighter health have become central to conversations around the 2020 wildfire season due to ongoing risks associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic
Given that no vaccine has been developed for COVID-19 at this time, there is a possibility that communities and fire professionals could see multiple fire seasons where wildfire and COVID-19 risks converge. We explore this intersection of wildfire and pandemic risk in two areas recently affected by wildfire using a mixed-mode survey conducted in late spring of 2020, working to address the following research question: To what extent did COVID-19 influence Arizona residents’ anticipated interactions with wildfire risk ahead of the 2020 wildfire season?
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a vast number of new uncertainties for the 2020 fire season
Summary
Both public and firefighter health have become central to conversations around the 2020 wildfire season due to ongoing risks associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns about the intersection of wildfire season with pandemic risk ( referred to as the wildfire–pandemic interface) indicate that there may be opportunities for heightened COVID-19 infection and spread in addition to restricted emergency communication and disaster management capacity, under rapidly evolving conditions [3,4]. Understanding how residents in the wildland-urban interface (WUI)—areas where vegetation meets development—may perceive and adapt to these concurrent risks, and how they might behave if a wildfire threatens their home, is an urgent research need. We explore this knowledge gap through a preliminary analysis of survey data collected ahead of the 2020 fire season in two WUI areas in the U.S state of Arizona
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