2.13 Cultural and other intangible non-monetary issues

Firefighter response planning and resources. Fire service also adds to the cost of fire protection and planning. The National Fire Protection Association (Zhuang et al. 2017) estimates that in 2014, the United States spent about $135 billion on fire services, or about $1,000 per household per year, about half of which was directly spent on professional firefighters, and the other half representing the value of volunteer firefighters. Canada employs about 145,000 career and volunteer firefighters (25,000 and 120,000, respectively). Career firefighters earn approximately $90,000 per year (Living in Canada ND), and the average fire chief earns $126,000 per year (Neuvoo 2021b).

Public education. As described elsewhere in this chapter, a growing body of literature intended for the public explains the nature of the wildland-urban interface, its fire risk, and the nature of fireresistant construction. However, public education also involves efforts to make the public aware of that literature and perhaps to better understand what to expect in an emergency. After the Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs, Colorado, the Colorado Springs Fire Department began a stewardship program with its 112 homeowner associations. They prepared and distributed “packets with information on tax benefits, tree service providers, evacuation planning, emergency planning, and outdoor burning. Everything a homeowner would have a question about is in that packet.” They “raffle off an evacuation kit to get them thinking about what [homeowners] should put into their kits” (Markley 2017).

Emergency communication resources. Canadian emergency managers can use the National Public Alerting System (Public Safety Canada 2020), Wireless Public Alerting Service (Government of Canada 2016), social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and perhaps other communication systems. People also rely on each other for information, as was evident in the Camp Fire (Sabalow et al. 2018), Waldo Canyon Fire (Markley 2017), and others, where people were contacted by neighbours, friends, and family.

2.13 Cultural and other intangible non-monetary issues

The present analysis focuses on quantifying tangible benefits at the house, community, and national levels, especially monetary costs, casualties, and, to a limited extent, environmental impacts. But disasters affect different populations differently, partly because infrastructure improvements differ by economic and other demographic status, partly because people’s ability to withstand a disaster differs under the same stress from infrastructure impacts, and partly because cultural factors matter regardless of infrastructure and vulnerability status.

While the present study does not address these issues in serious depth, it seems worthwhile to at least mention some of the literature that shows how they might matter and to a limited extent how they can be treated.

Davis et al. (2012) recommends treating the issue by combining medical and functional methods. Under such a paired approach, one identifies high-risk, high-vulnerability populations, accounts for how overlapping population characteristics may increase or decrease the vulnerability of an individual in a disaster, considers the effects of stakeholder involvement, and identifies systemic levels where medical intervention can reduce vulnerability.