Uncovering the perception regarding wildfires of residents with different characteristics

Abstract

Wildfires are a major environmental hazard in Portugal and cause deep social and economic disruption, demanding urgent actions for risk mitigation and people's protection. We aimed to understand if the personal characteristics of people, such as age, gender or education level, influenced their knowledge and perception regarding specific topics related to wildfires: i) wildfire risk; ii) spot fires and the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI); iii) self-protection possibilities; iv) community involvement and v) knowledge on legal instruments and plans from government agencies, in order to identify potential mitigation and prevention actions more suited to their experience and needs. Starting with the residents of two small villages recently affected by wildfires, and then extended to other areas in the mainland, we used responses to 282 survey questionnaires to discover people's perception on the different topics. Younger and more educated people feel confident with their knowledge on how to act in high fire danger situations. People with jobs related to forest industries mentioned having the ability to defend themselves and property. Most people found it difficult to provide a clear definition of wildfire risk and they did not know what WUI is, indicating that these concepts are not sufficiently understood amongst the civil society. Most people said they do not know about legal measures or plans that could mitigate wildfire risk, although these are commonly based on intervention at community level and individual household responsibility. Wildfire risk management strategies must address the challenges linked to the need to tailor communication to people's conditions, educating at-risk communities in order to enhance the connection between citizens and community wildfire safety policies.