Date of Award

4-2012

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Geography

First Advisor

Dr. Lisa DeChano-Cook

Second Advisor

Dr. Gregory Veeck

Third Advisor

Dr. Lucius Hallet IV

Keywords

Fire prevention, fire ecology, wildfire, hazards, geography, Wyoming, risk

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The research examines significant differences in wildfire home protection activities between local and seasonal residents in Teton County, Wyoming. Significant differences of wildfire home protection activities results in hazard vulnerability to a whole community. An extensive literature review establishes the purpose and hypothesis of the research to understand if seasonal residents are creating wildfire hazard vulnerability to local residents. A survey-based methodology using nominal YES/NO questions and ordinal Likert-type scale questions were used to understand residents past wildfire experiences, perceptions on the effectiveness of home protection activities, and if residents actually do these activities. Statistical analysis revealed that seasonal residents do not create wildfire hazard vulnerability to residents. Other significant results include residents' reasons for not completing home protection activities and what how outside agencies could help residents complete these activities. Researcher observations and experiences do indicate that wildfire vulnerability does exist to some extent between residents and provides recommendations to reduce the risk.

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