EGU2020-21099
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-21099
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Human Perception of and Response to Wildfire Smoke

Mariah Fowler1 and Mojtaba Sadegh2
Mariah Fowler and Mojtaba Sadegh
  • 1Boise State University, Civil Engineering, United States of America (mariahfowler@u.boisestate.edu)
  • 2Boise State University, Civil Engineering, United States of America (mojtabasadegh@boisestate.edu)

Wildfire smoke presents a growing threat in the Western U.S.; and human health, transportation, and economic systems in growing western communities suffer due to increasingly severe and widespread fires. While modelling wildfire activity and associated wildfire smoke distributions have substantially improved, understanding how people perceive and respond to emerging smoke hazards has received little attention. Understanding and incorporating human perceptions of threats from wildfire smoke is critical, as decision-makers need such information to mitigate smoke-related hazards. We surveyed 614 randomly selected people (in-person) across the Boise Metropolitan Area in Idaho and 1,623 Boise State University affiliates (online), collecting information about their level of outside activity during smoke event(s), knowledge about the source of air quality information and effective messaging preference, perception of wildfire smoke as a hazard, and smoke-related health experiences. This relatively large dataset provides a novel perspective of people’s perception of smoke hazards and provides crucial policy-relevant information to decision-makers. Dataset is available to the public and can be used to address a wide range of research questions.

How to cite: Fowler, M. and Sadegh, M.: Human Perception of and Response to Wildfire Smoke, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-21099, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-21099, 2020

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