Relationships to Bushfire among Residents Who Do Not Typically Participate in Community Engagement in Victoria, Australia

Abstract

There are calls to consider the views of the diverse public in bushfire policy, planning, and management, yet those who do not typically participate in social research and/or government community engagement activities are generally under-represented. A mixed method research design was used, including a survey, intercept and in-depth interviews to study a diversity of views. Concepts of social values, knowledge and practices were drawn on first to examine participants’ relationship to bushfire and second to discuss bushfire engagement. We identified and analyzed three relationships to bushfire: Irrelevant to me; Terror at my door; A rural concern. Participants’ values were more focused on people, pets, and special things than in earlier research and they generally perceived bushfire as solely a domain for experts. There is an opportunity to find ways to resonate with their values and relationships to bushfire, and to shape bushfire research and practice.