Discourses About Wildfire in New Jersey and New South Wales: New South Wales Survey Results

Survey used in New South Wales (.pdf format)

Major Findings

The survey found that the Responsible Residents were the most common discourse in New South Wales, though all four discourses were well-represented. Respondents had a high level of concern about the risk of bushfires, and high levels of trust in the Rural Fire Service.

Risk perception could be explained mostly by "pragmatic" variables relating to the respondent’s exposure to fire (e.g. living near a forest) and past experience with fire. However, the variables included in the survey failed to predict either adherence to the Q-based discourses, satisfaction with the current fire management situation, or risk-reducing actions taken at one's house. Indeed, it was difficult even to separate survey respondents into distinct perspectives on the fire issue.

The survey results led to the formulation of a "detachment hypothesis," which will require further testing (but which is consistent with other studies). During periods between major fires (such as the period during which this survey was conducted), the fire issue becomes depoliticized and detached from a person’s core worldview and way of life. Actions that may reduce the risk of fire become mainly determined by motivations and constraints unrelated to fire. When asked in a survey to respond individually to questions about fire, people's answers are not motivated by a clear, preexisting, underlying comprehensive view about fire management. However, when asked to do a Q sort -- a more intensive procedure that explicitly requires considering issues in relation to each other and addressing tradeoffs between different values -- individuals construct more coherent viewpoints.

Part A: Basic views

Questions 1-8. Note that green bars represent how important the respondent thinks that goal of fire management should be, whereas the brown bars represent their opinion of how well that goal is achieved at present.

Part B: Q items

Questions 17-44. These questions come from the Q statements that most significantly distinguished the discourses.

17. Some parts of the environment should be protected from any fires.
18. Farming, logging, and other land use can be relied on to reduce the bushfire danger.
19. I shouldn’t be expected to spend all my time worrying about fire, because I’m busy with other things that are important to me.
20. Firefighters should be paid for the work they do.
21. Bushfire management should be tailored to the specific local situation.
22. Individual property owners should have the right to decide how to balance the risks and costs of bushfire safety.
23. Trust between firefighters and the rest of the community should be encouraged.
24. The state should provide lots of money for bushfire management.
25. Once a bushfire breaks out, the Rural Fire Service should have complete control of the situation.
26. We should be able to count on people in this region to be pretty responsible with things like campfires that could start a bushfire.
27. When a bushfire is approaching, you should evacuate quickly.
28. All stakeholders should be involved in making decisions about local bushfire management.
29. You should stay in your house when a fire is nearby to help save it.
30. People have a responsibility to the community to reduce the bushfire risk on their property.
31. There should be building codes that require homes to be fire safe.
32. There’s no way to stop arsonists -- they’re just crazy.
33. Controlled burning should be done in small patches, rather than burning large areas all at once.
34. The media should sensationalize bushfires a bit, in order to get people’s attention.
35. Science will never fully understand bushfires.
36. People who do controlled burns responsibly should not be able to be sued if there is an accident.
37. Bushfire policy should be based on the best science available.
38. Controlled burning should only be done under the safest conditions.
39. Controlled burning should try to mimic the natural fire regime of the area.
40. It’s smart to prepare your own home and family for a bushfire, rather than relying on other people.
41. Bushfire management in this state should be centralized.
42. People should be allowed to build houses wherever they want.
43. People should understand the bushfire risk before moving to this region.
44. The Rural Fire Service should be mostly made up of volunteers, not professionals.

Part D: Grid-Group Cultural Theory

Grid-Group Cultural Theory says that people's views of environmental issues can be explained by referring to four basic worldviews. The worldviews shown are composite scales based on five questions each. The pie chart assigns each person to the worldview they most strongly agree with.

Individualism:

46. In a fair system, people with more ability should earn more.
51. Everyone should have an equal chance to succeed and fail without government interference.
57. If people have the vision and ability to acquire property, they ought to be allowed to enjoy it.
59. People who are successful in business have a right to enjoy their wealth as they see fit.
60. Competitive markets are almost always the best way to supply people with things they need.

Fatalism:

50. It seems that whichever party you vote for things go on pretty much the same.
54. I feel that life is a lottery.
55. Cooperation with others rarely works.
56. The future is too uncertain for a person to make serious plans.
64. Most people make friends only because friends are useful for them.

Hierarchy:

47. One of the problems with people today is that they challenge authority too often.
48. The best way to provide for future generations is to preserve the customs and practices of our past.
61. Society works best when people obey all rules and regulations.
62. Respect for authority is one of the most important things that children should learn.
63. Different roles for different sorts of people enable people to live together more harmoniously.

Egalitarianism:

45. The world would be a more peaceful place if its wealth were divided more equally among nations.
49. What our country needs is a fairness revolution to make the distribution of goods more equal.
52. I support a tax shift so that the burden falls more heavily on corporations and people with large incomes.
53. We need to dramatically reduce inequalities between men and women.
58. Decisions in business and government should rely more heavily on popular participation.

Part E: Fire Safety Actions

The following questions asked whether the respondent, or someone else in their household, had done, or planned to do, ten different actions that have been recommended as ways to make a house safer from bushfires.

72. Trim all trees and shrubs, and clean up other flammable material, within 10 m of your home.
73. Trim all trees and shrubs, and clean up other flammable material, within 30 m of your home.
74. Create an explicit emergency plan for your household in case of a bushfire
75. Install a sprinkler system
76. Talk to your neighbors about working together to make your community safer from fire
77. Put screens over windows, vents, eaves, and other places that embers could enter the house
78. Clear leaves and other debris from roof and gutters
79. Conduct a hazard reduction burn on your property
80. Plant fire-resistant plants around your home
81. Replace wooden shingles with metal or tile roofing

How much of a barrier are each of the following things to your ability to make your home fire safe?

How much do you trust each of the following people or institutions?

Part E. Additional comments

Below are the additional comments given by some respondents.

"This isn't your real agenda. Remember I am Australian no another dumb American. Why don't you focus more on all the Bushfires the U.S.A. government has started. You are only interested in the answers to Part D. The Bushfire questions are a smoke screen."

"I live in a suburb not really near any bush. So it is not a huge issue for our house."

"The current system (paid, skilled administrators backed up by community volunteers) is excellent. Cyclone Katrina shows what happens with paid/political appointments and lack of volunteer ethos. We have been saved from wildfire on several occasions. Local firefighters are competent and knowledgeable. As such, they should control evacuation, etc. We stay and protect property, but if the RFS says to go, then one should go. We do not have reticulated water, but tank water pumped to the house. In a bushfire the pump would be destroyed, so a sprinkler system would not be useful. People involved in hazard reduction should only be able to be sued if criminal negligence is proved."

"As far as prioritizing various levels of government expenditure (Fed/State/local), I would imagine people's order of priority would place this issue of bushfire protection quite low, hence limited gov $'s to achieve education campaigns etc ... except when they occur, bushfires are not "in your face""

"Ongoing education about this issue is important, particularly during our school life."

"Fires are good for the Earth. We need to understand fire. Bushfire -- that is controlled burning is the way to help us. The Aboriginal and native people of the world could help you with your survey."

"We have a current CFU (Community Fire Unit) & apart from our CFU work -- no govt dept or Rural FS have dropped literature about bushfires to our local area. Also NSW Fire Brigades are very good to work with & helpful with training, but the RFS are clearly too full of themselves to lower themselves to do some community awareness sessions or training."

"Where I live it's not a high-level area where many bush-fires happen. So a lot of answers are hard to answer."

"Hazard reduction is the only way to reduce bushfire risk in this area -- but can only be done at short notice."

"Pine Trees in this area should be band. Those who have them should get rid of them -- with help from Authorities. Needles of trees are a hazard on roofs. The trees themselves explode and are dangerous in bush fires."

"As an older woman now alone bushfires or rather -- the threat of bushfire -- has been of sufficient concern -- dreading each summer that it as been one of the contributing factors to my decision to leave the mountains and return to the city."

"I believe that we are in a safe area from bushfires although we can see smoke from bushfires in the distance."

"Certain parts of Blue Mountains have not been adequately been protected due to difficult in terain, and the huge areas involved. All govements see not to much political capital in protecting the environment (bush areas and National Park). European traditions and lack of being not part of the natural oneness has resulted in areas not being protected and fire risk understood."

"I would like to see more burn-offs in winter in prep. for summer, and I would like authorities to do something about several of my neighbors wooden houses/yards -- they are very unkept/untidy -- stockpiles of wood/junk -- very high fire risk."

"Thank you very much for taking an interest in the safety of our lives. I personally do not have time to commit to fire fighting or even much to prevention. I am grateful to you."

"The importance of bushfires for bush regeneration also needs to be taken into consideration."

"Strongly believe that we need tougher laws to punish arsonists."

"A barrier to doing something to protect our home from bushfire is lack of information -- or knowing where to get it from easily."

I would like to thank all of the organizations and individuals who participated in this research.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0526381. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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