‘Why can't they just evacuate early’ –a study of the effect of a virtual reality experience on residents' intentions related to a wildfire risk

Abstract

Late evacuation during a wildfire is dangerous and potentially fatal. Yet it is surprisingly common and a key challenge for organizations who manage wildfire risks. Encouraging at-risk residents to make wise and timely protective decisions in response to wildfire threats is an important task. Using the protective action decision model and structural equation modelling, the research explored the relative importance of wildfire risk perception, protective action perception and stakeholder perceptions on predicting the intention to ‘leave early’ among participants who indicated they would ‘wait and see’ on a day forecast as severe fire danger. The effect of a virtual wildfire scenario which was designed to allow participants to experience the dynamic nature of wildfire was also investigated on predictors of intention. The results showed that the predictors of intention significantly strengthened the desire to leave early rather than ‘wait and see’ after exposure to the virtual experience. The results of the regression analysis indicated that situational perception of personal risk, its interaction with stakeholder perception, protective action and stakeholder perception significantly predicted the intention to leave early after experiencing the virtual scenario. Moreover, the results indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between male and female participants in their tendency to leave in response to the socio environmental cues embedded in the VR intervention. The study highlights the need for thoughtfully designed interventions for residents who tend to ‘wait and see’ in response to wildfire threats as well as the need for gender wise strategies.