Influences on Wildfire Hazard Exposure in Arizona's High Country

Based on the case of wildfire hazards in Arizona forests, this article addresses the question: What influences hazard exposure? Like other locales in the U.S. West, the study area has developed as large wildfires have occurred with increasing frequency. Management interventions have traditionally been based on the hypothesis that unsafe conditions result from inadequate residential knowledge of wildfire hazards. Findings from a household-level multiple regression analysis using structured survey, hazard exposure, and secondary data provide little support for this approach and underlying hypothesis. Results reveal that other variables—corresponding to amenity values, reliance on fire insurance, place dependency, and housing contextual factors—are important predictors of household exposure to wildfire hazards. Findings have implications for theoretical understandings of wildfire hazards and hazard reduction efforts in private community landscapes.