Wildfire risk often uneven, study says
Extreme wildfires will likely hit lowincome individuals, people with disabilities and certain racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately hard in coming years, a new study says.
Of the 29 million Americans living in areas with at least some threat of severe fire, University of Washington and Nature Conservancy researchers identified about 12 million for which such an emergency would be devastating.
Arizona was one of a few Southwestern states where vulnerable populations overlapped with fire danger,
creating hot spots of risk.
“Even within countries that are more affluent and experience fewer disasters, the impacts of those disasters that do occur can be strikingly unequal,” the researchers wrote.
“While fire-prone places in the U.S. are more likely to be populated by higher-income groups, this fact threatens to overshadow the thousands of low-income individuals who also live in fireprone places but lack the resources to prepare or recover.”
The study found that the “least adaptable groups (in terms of absorbing losses) are likely those whose needs are insufficiently considered in the planning of local response and relief organizations.”
As climate change creates increasingly hotter and drier conditions, wildfires are expected to be more frequent and more destructive.
Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for after the deadly Camp Fire hit Northern California. Communities in the fire zone included those populated by lower-income residents seeking affordable housing.
Those families often “cannot afford tree trimming, brush removal or other fire-mitigation services that could mean the difference between a low severity under-burn and a severe wildfire,” according to the study.
They’re also less likely to have insurance and tend to live in low-quality housing with few firefighting resources.
When facing a possible evacuation, “limited-income individuals are likely to find it challenging to prepare by stocking up on water, food and gasoline,” said Diane Brown, director of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group, which works to protect consumers.
“They may not own or have immediate access to a vehicle,” she said. “And while many individuals rely on news media or social media to learn about disasters and receive safety tips, broadband service is inconsistent in rural communities.”
The study also highlighted the increased risk that multiunit housing — such as apartments, group facilities or dorms for agricultural workers — poses to tenant safety in a disaster, as escape routes can easily become overcrowded.
The researchers’ findings didn’t surprise Gary Karp, a Phoenix-based consultant on disabilities and other access and functional needs. He said the “population of people with disabilities is vastly misunderstood from the get-go.”
“There are some who really, really need support and assistance, especially in the context of a disaster,” he said, adding that evacuation planning should include the ill or incapacitated.
“The other end of the range are people like myself and many, many other people with disabilities of all kinds who are highly active, who are independent.”
Karp said the first group could be “endangered because they can’t get out on their own, and because “first responders might not know how to deal with them.” The second group may face the loss of a home that has been adapted to suit specific needs.
“Transitional housing is a huge problem, and accessible, inclusive sheltering is a huge problem,” he said.
During a recent deployment as an adviser with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Karp learned of an evacuee who spent two days in a wheelchair at a shelter because he didn’t have an accessible place to sleep.
“At worst, it’s about protecting people’s lives,” he said. “But it’s also about people being able to get back to what they were doing, getting back to operating businesses and having families.”
When researchers examined the link between fire vulnerability and race or ethnicity, they found that “some ethnic groups experience very different vulnerability to wildfire than majoritywhite communities.”
Native Americans, specifically those living on reservation land, were six times more likely to live in areas facing both fire and recovery risks.
“I think part of the misconception with the American public is that it’s easy to move or relocate after a disaster,” said Ben Colombi, an anthropologist and professor of American Indian studies at the University of Arizona.
“I think for indigenous people, a lot of times that’s not even a conceivable option, because they have obligations and rights on that land that go back to their traditional teachings and culture.”
Colombi said he believes most tribal nations in Arizona have located villages and homes in areas with less fire risk. But he said places of religious or cultural significance that lie outside of reservations “are being greatly impacted by intense forest fires.”
Hispanic Americans were similarly overrepresented in vulnerable areas, the study found.
Researchers cited a 2014 case in which language barriers prevented Spanish-speaking agricultural workers in eastern Washington from receiving evacuation notices during a fire, and 2017 cases in California where departments “struggled to release timely and correct bilingual information.”