A model developed by Washington State University researchers could someday help communities determine how best to motivate homeowners to prepare their properties for possible wildfires.
The WSU researchers developed formulas that communities could someday use to find optimal subsidies to incentivize people in wildfire-prone communities to protect their properties through actions such as clearing vegetation or upgrading roofing materials. The work was published in the journal, Expert Systems with Applications.
“Cost is often one of the biggest barriers when thinking about the wildfire mitigation,” said Zhu-Jun Wang, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and first author of the paper. “Even people who understand the danger in the local community may still be hesitant about the mitigation because of the cost.” [Read more]