UC Davis

ABSTRACTBy Mitchell P Snyder “The Fire Keeps Burning:” Understanding the impacts of wildfires on households and across communities. (Under the guidance of Clare Cannon)

This dissertation work studies the long-term impacts of wildfires by bringing together the bodies of literature on disaster recovery, place attachment, and post-disaster displacement, to better understand the impacts of wildfires on households and across communities. Wildfires pose a growing threat to human health through mental and physical health impacts, and longer-term impacts such as contamination or pollution. While much of the current wildfire scholarship contributes exceptional work on how wildfires impact communities and households in the acute phase following a wildfire, there remains work to be done to identify how post-wildfire needs vary by demographics like race and class, and how post-fire needs change over time in the months to years following a wildfire. Where many quantitative studies more narrowly focus on wildfire incidence and potential future exposure as a measurement of inequality, this dissertation advances the field in three key ways.

First, by including qualitative data from over 4,000 households, this research contributes to wildfire social science by exploring mixed-methods hypotheses derived from disaster theories to understand dynamics of wildfire-household interactions. Second, this study explores the factors that contribute to need duration following a wildfire—necessities like food, water, and shelter, as well as other needs including internet access, cell phone service, and transportation. By studying the households that have persistent needs, this research contributes to wildfire recovery literature by identifying specific high-risk subgroups for post-wildfire interventions. Wildfires affect entire communities, not just individual households – and understanding the factors that influence the social vulnerability of these communities is vital. Third, this research explores the factors that influence post-wildfire Quality of Life, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the 2018 Camp Fire on locally displaced households, which represent a population of theoretical and practical significance for wildfire recovery.

Findings suggest that longitudinal monitoring and evaluation efforts are needed to continue to meet the needs of vulnerable households affected by wildfires and other disasters. Results indicate that qualitive variables, and the hypotheses derived from them, offer insight into different facets of recovery in a largely quantitatively validated field. Future research should focus on specific regional dynamics of identified socio-environmental interactions by including historical and qualitative data to measure relative risk, recovery, and resilience.