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Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California

Major wildfires and their smoke pose a threat to public health and are becoming more frequent in the United States, particularly in California and other populated, fire-prone states. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how California residents view wildfires and engage in risk-reducing behaviors...

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Autores principales: Masri, Shahir, Shenoi, Erica Anne, Garfin, Dana Rose, Wu, Jun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9820212/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36613138
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010815
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author Masri, Shahir
Shenoi, Erica Anne
Garfin, Dana Rose
Wu, Jun
author_facet Masri, Shahir
Shenoi, Erica Anne
Garfin, Dana Rose
Wu, Jun
author_sort Masri, Shahir
collection PubMed
description Major wildfires and their smoke pose a threat to public health and are becoming more frequent in the United States, particularly in California and other populated, fire-prone states. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how California residents view wildfires and engage in risk-reducing behaviors during wildfire events. Currently, there is a knowledge gap concerning this area of inquiry. We disseminated a 40-question cross-sectional survey to explore wildfire perception and knowledge along with related risk-reducing measures and policies among 807 adult residents in the fire-prone region of Orange County, California. Results demonstrated that nearly all (>95%) participants had (or knew someone who had) previously experienced a wildfire. Female gender, knowing a wildfire victim and reporting to have a general interest/passion for environmental issues were the three factors most strongly associated with (1) wildfires (and smoke) being reported as a threat, (2) participants’ willingness to evacuate if threatened by a nearby wildfire, and (3) participants’ willingness to support a wildfire-related tax increase (p < 0.05). The majority (57.4%) of participants agreed that the occurrence of wildfires is influenced by climate change, with the most commonly reported risk-reducing actions (by 44% of participants) being informational actions (e.g., tracking the news) rather than self-motivated physical safety actions (e.g., using an air purifier) (29%). The results of this study can help to inform decision- and policy-making regarding future wildfire events as well as allow more targeted and effective public health messaging and intervention measures, in turn helping to reduce the risk associated with future wildfire/smoke episodes.
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spelling pubmed-98202122023-01-07 Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California Masri, Shahir Shenoi, Erica Anne Garfin, Dana Rose Wu, Jun Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Major wildfires and their smoke pose a threat to public health and are becoming more frequent in the United States, particularly in California and other populated, fire-prone states. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how California residents view wildfires and engage in risk-reducing behaviors during wildfire events. Currently, there is a knowledge gap concerning this area of inquiry. We disseminated a 40-question cross-sectional survey to explore wildfire perception and knowledge along with related risk-reducing measures and policies among 807 adult residents in the fire-prone region of Orange County, California. Results demonstrated that nearly all (>95%) participants had (or knew someone who had) previously experienced a wildfire. Female gender, knowing a wildfire victim and reporting to have a general interest/passion for environmental issues were the three factors most strongly associated with (1) wildfires (and smoke) being reported as a threat, (2) participants’ willingness to evacuate if threatened by a nearby wildfire, and (3) participants’ willingness to support a wildfire-related tax increase (p < 0.05). The majority (57.4%) of participants agreed that the occurrence of wildfires is influenced by climate change, with the most commonly reported risk-reducing actions (by 44% of participants) being informational actions (e.g., tracking the news) rather than self-motivated physical safety actions (e.g., using an air purifier) (29%). The results of this study can help to inform decision- and policy-making regarding future wildfire events as well as allow more targeted and effective public health messaging and intervention measures, in turn helping to reduce the risk associated with future wildfire/smoke episodes. MDPI 2023-01-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9820212/ /pubmed/36613138 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010815 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Masri, Shahir
Shenoi, Erica Anne
Garfin, Dana Rose
Wu, Jun
Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
title Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
title_full Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
title_fullStr Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
title_short Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
title_sort assessing perception of wildfires and related impacts among adult residents of southern california
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9820212/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36613138
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010815
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