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Overview

Dr. Kaitlyn Fallow will be presenting the results of a 2024 national survey on Canadians’ perceptions and behaviours related to wildfire risk.

In February/March 2024, Dr. Fallow's team surveyed 3231 participants throughout Canada to better understand current adoption of wildfire risk reduction measures like those recommended by FireSmart™ and explore some of the social, psychological, and structural factors that may drive and impede adoption of such measures. This study also tested the impact of six behaviourally-informed messaging interventions on intentions to take action going forward.

These messages emphasized various aspects of wildfire’s potential impacts and the benefits of proactive risk reduction (e.g., the potential personal and collective economic benefits of wildfire risk reduction, the shared nature of wildfire risk/collective benefits of neighbourhood action, and the health effects of wildfire/smoke exposure). Dr. Fallow will discuss some of the results of this study, implications for policy and programs, and open questions we hope to address in future work.

About Dr. Kaitlyn Fallow

Dr. Kaitlyn Fallow is a Behavioural Science Fellow with the Privy Council Office’s Impact and Innovation Unit and Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Forest Service (Government of Canada). She is based at the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, BC. Her current research focuses on Canadians’ awareness, attitudes, behaviours related to wildfire risk and resilience and the potential to apply behavioural science to increase engagement in wildfire risk reduction.

Watch our webinar on Canadians’ Perceptions & Actions Related to Wildfire Risk & Resilience below: