Barriers to Public Support of Fuel Reduction Strategies

Public attitudes can be obstacles to prescribed fire and wildland fire use (Clute 2004). A barrier to acceptance of fire use for many people is that it seems to contradict historical messages from land management agencies that portrayed fire as a negative force (Beebe and Omi 1993; Lee 1987; Toman and Shindler 2002). Some members of the public are concerned that mechanical reduction could be used as a pretext for removing mature trees (Jehl 2001). Prescribed fire has historically raised controversy because of smoke affecting roads and air quality at home or at work. The potential for catastrophic escaped fires also creates opposition to the practice.

Some of the attitudes and perceptions that can be barriers to implementing fuel reduction are:

• Fire is risky
• Fire will damage valuables (DeBano and others 1998; Hall 1972)
• Fire can harm human health (Shelby and Speaker 1990; Winter and Fried 2000);
• Fire has negative aesthetic impacts on the landscape (Hall 1972; Shelby and Speaker 1990; Taylor and Daniel 1984)
• Fire causes economic losses for forests and people who work with forest products (Hall 1972)
• Fire damages ecosystems and can harm wildlife (Cortner and others 1984; Hall 1972; Shelby and Speaker 1990)
• Information about fire control and suppression is confusing
• Fire prevention lessons are misinterpreted (Shelby and Speaker 1990)
• The scientific findings of fires effects and opinions on the use of fire are mixed (Clute 2004; Shelby and Speaker 1990)
• Fires inconvenience nearby residents; for example, residents of Floridas wildland urban intermix are inconvenienced by ashes blowing into their swimming pools

Methods for assessing public knowledge and attitudes

Policy makers and fire managers need to know what people believe about fire risks in order to understand the fire prevention measures they will accept, especially in the wildland urban intermix where homeowner cooperation is necessary to meet the management goal of fire risk reduction (Winter and Fried 2000). There are many social science methods available to managers who want to assess or change local perspectives on fire risk, fire behavior, fire effects, and fire use. Common methods for gathering this type of information are mail and telephone surveys, interviews, and focus groups. A variety of methods can be used to recruit community involvement such as community-based resource management and participatory action research.