Wildfire survival plans in theory and practice (original) (raw)
Related papers
Bushfire survival preparations by householders in at-risk areas of south-eastern Australia
Australian Journal of Emergency Management
While Australian State and Territory governments devote considerable resources to combating bushfires, landowners and householders are increasingly expected to take responsibility for protecting their property and for their personal safety. All Australian states and territories have community bushfire safety programs in place which provide information and advice to householders about bushfire survival. A 2012 survey of 584 residents in at-risk areas of South-Eastern Australia found generally low levels of planning and preparation for bushfires. Householders’ lack of planning and preparation for safe evacuation if threatened was especially concerning.
It's just a natural way of life...? an investigation of wildfire preparedness in rural Australia
Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental Hazards, 2003
This study explores the preparedness of residents living in a rural community in Victoria, Australia, for wildfires, and the factors influencing their preparedness. Overall, participants were well aware of wildfire risks and appeared well prepared for the event of a fire. However, residents involved in agriculture and with a long-standing association with the area appeared better prepared than were those on small properties and newcomers. Their social networks, previous experiences with wildfires and grassfires, and involvement with the local fire brigade influenced preparedness of long-term residents. Characteristics of agricultural communities, including a culture of self-reliance, experience with fires as part of farming, and social cohesion, appeared to contribute to wildfire preparedness within this community. Included are recommendations encouraging preparedness for wildfires.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015
Many populated areas of Australia are at high risk of bushfire. All state and territory rural fire services have community bushfire safety education programs providing information and advice to residents about bushfire danger, household risk assessment, and planning and preparing to leave safely or to defend a property assessed as being defensible. Following disastrous bushfires in Victoria in February 2009 resulting in the deaths of 172 civilians and destruction of more than 2000 homes, a programme of interviews with affected residents was conducted. This first study revealed generally low levels of both pre-bushfire perceptions of risk, and planning and preparation by householders. Between 2011 and 2014, six further post-bushfire householder interview studies were conducted. Despite fire agencies' community education endeavours subsequent to the 2009 fires: (a) appreciable percentages of residents interviewed in these six post-2010 studies did not believe that they were at-risk prior to the fire and had no plan for what to do if threatened; (b) of those with a plan, a minority were well-prepared to implement their planespecially if that plan was to leave; (c) very few householders self-evacuated before the fire on the basis of fire danger weather warnings. The findings and implications are discussed.
Living with bushfire risk: Social and environmental influences on preparedness
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 23(3):41-8
This paper discusses the process of developing a model capable of informing the development of community outreach strategies to facilitate the sustained adoption of bushfire preparedness measures. Following the identification of anomalies in defining the predictors of preparedness, a qualitative study of the reasoning processes that influence whether or not people decided to prepare for bushfire hazards is presented. The findings of the qualitative study are used to revise the preparedness model. Finally, using data from 482 residents in high bushfire risk areas in Hobart, the ability of the revised model to account for differences in levels of household preparedness is discussed.
When it comes to preparing for bushfires, not all residents prepare to the same extent. In addition, they differ in the way they intend to respond to a fire threat. Results from a pilot study (Dunlop et al. 2012a, 2012b) suggest that differences in such intended fire responses may be related to differences in levels of preparedness for different types of preparedness. In order to further explore this we conducted a 2wave field-study amongst residents of fire prone areas in Western Australia during the 2011-2012 fire season. Results from 229 respondents showed that those who intended to defend completed more defence preparatory actions than those who had more ambiguous response intentions (e.g. defend until fire directly threatens property), even though this latter group also holds defending as a viable option. Those who intended to evacuate completed the fewest defence preparations and the fewest property preparations, and had the fewest survival kit items. This study thus supports the idea that those with more ambiguous response intentions are more likely to end up being under-prepared.
Householder bushfire preparation: decision-making and the implications for risk communication
2010
This research was made possible with financial support from the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre. I was supported by a Bushfire CRC scholarship, and gained funding support from the CRC to print and distribute my surveys. I was provided valuable assistance from members of the fire services with whom I have collaborated. In particular, Chris Tomes and Damien Killalea from the Community Education branch of the Tasmania Fire Service, and Terry Kirkpatrick of the Critical Incident Support Unit with the New South Wales Fire Brigades. Without their contributions to siting survey locations, and in providing feedback on survey content, I surely would not have had such a successful householder response to my research. Without the support of the technical and academic staff in the School of Psychology I would not be completing this thesis now.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015
Disastrous wildfires have occurred often in southeastern Australia. Following multifatality wildfires in Victoria on 7 February 2009 the national approach to community wildfire safety, 'Prepare, stay and defend or leave early', came under intense critical scrutiny. The approach was revised subsequently so as to emphasise leaving as the safest option in the event of a wildfire warning. This study reports findings from a survey of 584 residents of at-risk locations. The majority (47%) reported that they intended to leave if warned of a bushfire threat. However, a substantial minority (24%) reported that they intended to stay and defend their home. A further 29% reported that they intended to wait and see what developed before making a final decision. Those intending to leave differed from those intending to stay and defend in several ways. Those intending to leave were characterised generally by being more concerned about the danger posed by bushfires, they viewed themselves as more vulnerable to bushfire threat and they were worried about their house being destroyed in their absence. Those intending to stay and defend were motivated, mostly, to protect their valued property and they believed that their efforts would be successful. They did not perceive themselves to be risk takers. Those intending to leave generally reported rather low levels of preparations for leaving safely. An appreciable percentage of those intending to stay and defend reported levels of preparations for safe defence which were probably inadequate for safe and effective defence.
International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2013
On Saturday 7 February 2009, 173 people lost their lives and more than 2000 houses were destroyed in bushfires (wildfires) in the Australian State of Victoria. The scale of life and property loss raised fundamental questions about community bushfire safety in Australia, in particular the appropriateness of the ‘Prepare, stay and defend or leave early’ policy. This paper presents findings from research undertaken as part of the Australian Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre’s (CRC) ‘2009 Victorian Bushfires Research Taskforce’. The research examined factors influencing patterns of life and property loss and survival across the fires through mail surveys (n=1314) of fire affected households. Just over half of the respondents (53%) stayed to defend their homes and properties, whereas the remainder left before or when the fires arrived (43%) or sheltered in a house, structure, vehicle, or outside (4%). Results reveal a survival rate of 77% for houses that were defended by one or more h...
International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2014
In an effort to reduce wildfire risk to community members, researchers and practitioners have sought to identify the factors that are most effective in motivating community members to engage in preparatory behaviours. Quantitative research in this area has been hampered, however, by a lack of consistency in, and validation of household wildfire preparedness assessments. Consequences have included a difficulty in comparing results across quantitative studies, a poor collective understanding of how existing preparedness assessments were developed and an inability to ascertain how specific preparedness actions are tied to householders’ responses to wildfire. We propose to resolve these issues by (1) presenting a definition of wildfire preparedness for adoption as the standard in quantitative studies, (2) developing a typology of wildfire preparedness that distinguishes between household wildfire goals (i.e. safe evacuation, effective active defence and improving the fire resistance of ...
Geoforum, 2019
Housing developments on the peri-urban fringe of Australian towns and cities create complexities for bushfire management due to the intermingling of natural, rural and urban spaces. To address the risk of bushfire, policies and practices have promoted and encouraged landowner responsibility for bushfire mitigation actions and behaviours. Using a postal survey, interviews and focus groups, we examine perceptions and actions regarding bushfire preparedness from the viewpoints of individual residents, landowners, and the local fire and environmental authorities on the Lower Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Respondents living on larger sized allotments were more likely to perceive that their property was vulnerable to bushfire than those living on residential-sized allotments. Larger holdings tend to have more fire-susceptible vegetation than the smaller properties located in fringe suburbs, which seems to confer to those latter residents a sense of greater safety from bushfires. On the other hand, residents on larger blocks reported higher levels of bushfire management knowledge and expressed stronger connections to the place where they live, which influenced their willingness to work to mitigate bushfire risk. Importantly, there is a disconnection between such individual landholder preparedness for bushfire and that of the broader community. Individual actions often do not translate into collective responses, suggesting that a greater sense of shared responsibility will need to develop to enable effective mitigation of regional bushfire risk at a regional scale.