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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...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9820212 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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