Topic: Public Perceptions of Fire and Smoke

Whether ignited by lightning or by Native Americans, fire once shaped many North American ecosystems. Euro–American settlement and 20th-century fire suppression practices drastically altered historic fire regimes, leading to excessive fuel accumulation and uncharacteristically severe wildfires…

As part of a Joint Fire Science Program project, a team of social scientists reviewed existing fire social science literature to develop a targeted synthesis of scientific knowledge on the following questions: 1. What is the public’s understanding of fire’s role in the ecosystem? 2. Who are…

Recent literature suggests that natural disasters such as wildfires often have the short-term effect of ‘‘bringing people together’’ while also under some circumstances generating social conflict at the local level. Conflict has been documented particularly when social relations are disembedded…

The large fires in southern California during the fall of 2003 highlighted the significant fire hazardmany wildland-urban interface communities and homes currently face. Despite this risk, people continueto leave metropolitan areas for the beauty and tranquility of the wildland-urban interface.…

Wildfire represents a serious challenge to communities in the rural West. After decades of fire suppression, land managers now perceive a greater role for wildfire in the ecosystem. In the meantime, migration patterns from urban to rural settings have increased the number of people living in…

This annotated bibliography is collected from professional journals in natural resource management and sociology, conference proceedings, and technical reports. It is categorized into thirteen sections: acceptability, fire in wilderness, general, history, institutions, media, policy, public…