Snuff It Out: Extinguishing the Disparity of Access to Shelters for Disadvantaged Communities in Wildfire-Prone Areas

野火可能对受影响社区的安全、经济和福祉产生不利影响，弱势社区承担的风险尤为严重。防止山火演变为人类灾难的一个关键因素是“可达性”，它指的是到达避难所的便利性，是避难所的机动性和位置的产物。尽管最先进的解决方案和实践至关重要，但目前缺乏一个系统的框架，在考虑公平因素的同时确定野火事件期间的获取途径。该抗灾研究基金项目的总体目标是将公平性纳入备灾战略，并最大限度地减少弱势社区和优势社区之间获取资源差距的公平性。如果一个社区了解其现有的脆弱性，并在灾难发生前调整战略准备计划，以建立复原力，就可以减轻野火的不利影响。然而，必须从公平和正义的角度制定和实施野火防范战略。例如，对于没有交通工具的居民来说，像找到并开车去美国红十字会收容所这样简单的任务是不可行的。该抗灾能力研究资助项目为弱势社区开发了一种科学的基于社区的解决方案，以扩大公平差异，增强社区抵御野火易发地区居民面临的持续挑战的破坏性影响的能力。它实现了三个目标：(i)量化弱势社区和优势社区在获得住房方面的差异；（ii）通过短期和长期野火准备战略优化与获取相关的公平；（iii）为政府官员和社区成员开发一个以科学为基础的以社区为中心的互动战略规划平台。我们与加利福尼亚州莱克县的社区合作伙伴密切合作，在2015年至2020年期间，莱克县60%的土地被烧毁，具有高危社区的关键特征，并且是包括土著居民在内的大量服务不足居民的家园。所研究的项目对社会的潜在好处是提高弱势社区的复原力，为社区、应急管理和应急人员提供作出知情决定和减少对弱势社区不可避免的影响所需的知识和科学工具。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Wildfires can have detrimental effects on the safety, economy, and well-being of affected communities with the risk borne disproportionately by disadvantaged communities. A critical factor that can prevent wildfires from turning into a human disaster is “access,” which refers to the ease of reaching shelters and is the product of both mobility and location of shelters. Despite its crucial importance, the state-of-the-art solutions and practices currently lack a systematic framework that determines access during wildfire events while incorporating equity considerations. The overarching goal of this Disaster Resilience Research Grant (DRRG) project is to incorporate equity into wildfire preparedness strategies and minimize the equity of access gap to resources between disadvantaged and advantaged communities. The adverse effects of wildfires can be mitigated if a community understands its existing vulnerabilities and adapts strategic preparedness plans before a disaster to build resilience. Wildfire preparedness strategies, however, must be formulated and implemented through the lens of equity and justice. For example, for residents who do not have access to transportation, a simple task like locating and driving to an American Red Cross shelter is not feasible.This Disaster Resilience Research Grant project develops a science-informed community-based solution for disadvantaged communities to augment equity discrepancies and community resilience to the devasting impacts of the ongoing challenge for residents of wildfire-prone areas. It fulfills three objectives: (i) it quantifies disparities in shelter access between disadvantaged and advantaged communities, (ii) it optimizes access-related equity through short- and long-term wildfire preparedness strategies, and (iii) it develops a science-based community-centered interactive strategic planning platform for public officials and community members. This is exercised in close collaboration with our community partners in Lake County, California, where 60% of the land has burned between 2015 and 2020, possesses key characteristics of an at-risk community, and is home to a significant population of underserved residents, including indigenous people. The potential benefit to society from the researched project is improving the resilience of disadvantaged communities and equipping the community, emergency management, and emergency responders with the knowledge and science-based tools required to make informed decisions and decrease the escapable repercussions on disadvantaged communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.