“We’re not saying that people who are not poor aren’t affected by wildfires,” Mr. Davies said. “What we’re saying is, if you have the characteristics of a disadvantaged community, you’re much more likely to take longer to recover.”
Bob Bolin, a professor of environmental social science at Arizona State University who was not involved in the study, cautioned that it was not an empirical study of actual communities. Rather, “the article lays out a terrain of risk,” he said in an email.
“What is interesting about wildfires is that the wealthy often put themselves in harm’s way — the second home in the woods phenomenon,” Dr. Bolin wrote. “The difference between the wealthy and the poor is the wealthy can afford losses, they have insurance, health insurance, secure jobs (typically somewhere else) and the poor don’t.”
Mr. Davies found that Native Americans living on federal reservations were six times more likely to live in both the most vulnerable and the most fire-prone areas.
Part of the reason is the historical legacy of the reservations, which have trapped many Native Americans in poverty. And the reservations are often located on grasslands or abutting forests that have a high potential for wildfires. But century-old rules that were designed to reduce forest fires through fire suppression, and that made it illegal to set fires on public forest lands, essentially banned many tribes from using controlled burns to reduce wildfire risk. (In recent years, federal agencies have started to work with some tribes to conduct prescribed burns.)
Rachel Morello-Frosch, a professor of environmental health at the University of California, Berkeley, said the research could be useful in preparing for future disasters. “Results of this study can help inform planning and outreach efforts to enhance the resilience of fire-prone communities, particularly for communities of color that are often overlooked when these disasters happen,” she said in an email.
Wildfires will only get worse as the planet warms, scientists say. The 2003 Cedar Fire is now only the third-largest in California’s history. This summer’s Mendocino Complex Fire took the top spot.
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