Government agencies may be misreading the level of wildfire risk in hundreds of communities by overlooking factors like poverty and lack of public services, according to a study funded by the Forest Service.
Relying in part on a grant from the agency, researchers at Oregon State University and The Nature Conservancy said “social vulnerability” should play more heavily into wildfire mitigation, echoing a report from a federal wildland fire commission in 2023.
Researchers came to the conclusion after studying more than 1,000 communities in Oregon and Washington state and finding that wildfire-related risks were greater —or less — in areas based on their socioeconomic profile.
Of the communities examined, 459 saw an increase in fire risk and 541 saw decreased risk with social factors included. Generally, they said, areas with lowered risks had higher average incomes.
