Understanding homeowners' decisions to mitigate wildfire risk and create defensible space
Angelo M. Sisante A , Michael H. Taylor
B D and Kimberly S. Rollins C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Grand Rounds, 10345 Professional Circle, Reno, NV 89521, USA.
B Department of Economics and Cooperative Extension, University of Nevada, 1664 N Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA.
C Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
D Corresponding author. Email: taylor@unr.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 28(11) 901-911 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18201
Submitted: 16 November 2018 Accepted: 2 August 2019 Published: 12 September 2019
Abstract
This article analyses homeowners’ decisions to undertake fire-safe investments and create defensible space on their property using a unique dataset from 35 wildland–urban interface communities in Nevada. The dataset combines homeowner information from a mail survey with their observed fire-safe investments obtained through parcel-level hazard assessments. We find that homeowners’ self-reported mitigation expenditures are driven by their subjective beliefs about their wildfire risk, whereas observed defensible space status is driven by their costs of investment. We develop a theoretical model of a homeowner’s fire-safe investment decision that accounts for our empirical results.
Additional keywords: economics, natural disasters, policy, uncertainty, wildland–urban interface.
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