Abstract
The growing incidence, size, intensity and duration of forest fires and escalating economic
constraints has made reliance on fire suppression activities as the main fire management
strategies in Portugal less tenable. Recognition of this led fire and municipal civil
protection agencies to include community preparedness in comprehensive risk management
planning. Because this is a new element of risk management in Portugal, agencies need
information on cost effective approaches to facilitate community preparedness. Using data
from a study of forest fire preparedness in Portugal, this chapter discusses the development
and testing of a model of forest fire preparedness. Data from 197 residents from several
communities in northern Portugal were used to test the model. Analysis confirmed that
people’s beliefs about the effectiveness of preparing (outcome effectiveness) interacted
with social processes and competencies (community participation, collective efficacy) to
explain differences in levels of forest fire preparedness. Because the social processes and
competencies identified derived from people’s life and community experiences, the
findings highlight the importance of integrating risk communication with community
engagement and development strategies if the goal of increasing preparedness is to be
effectively pursued. Activities fire and municipal agencies can use to facilitate preparedness
are discussed, as is the potential for using the model in Europe and Australia.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Modelling Fire Behaviour and Risk |
Editors | D. Spano, V. Bacciu, M. Salis , C. Sirca |
Place of Publication | Sassari, Italy |
Publisher | Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change |
Pages | 224-230 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Volume | 1 |
Edition | 1 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-88-904409-7-7 |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |