Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection
Abstract Wildfires are having disproportionate impacts on U.S. households. Notably, in California, over half of wildfire-destroyed homes (54%) are in low-income areas. We investigate the relationship between social vulnerability and wildfire community preparedness using building permits from 16 coun...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55705-w |
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| _version_ | 1823861857379680256 |
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| author | Sebastian Reining Moritz Wussow Chad Zanocco Dirk Neumann |
| author_facet | Sebastian Reining Moritz Wussow Chad Zanocco Dirk Neumann |
| author_sort | Sebastian Reining |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Wildfires are having disproportionate impacts on U.S. households. Notably, in California, over half of wildfire-destroyed homes (54%) are in low-income areas. We investigate the relationship between social vulnerability and wildfire community preparedness using building permits from 16 counties in California with 2.9 million buildings (2013–2021) and the U.S. government’s designation of disadvantaged communities (DACs), which classifies a census tract as a DAC if it meets a threshold for certain burdens, such as climate, environmental, and socio-economic. Homes located in DACs are 29% more likely to be destroyed by wildfires within 30 years, partly driven by a gap in roof renewals, one of several important home hardening actions. Homes in DACs have 28% fewer roof renewals than non-DACs and post-wildfire, non-DAC homes have more than twice the increase in renewals (+17%) compared to DAC homes (+7%). Our research offers policy insights for narrowing this equity gap in renewals for wildfire-prone areas. We recommend increasing financial support for roof renewals and targeted awareness campaigns for existing programs which are not sufficiently emphasized in wildfire strategies, particularly in DACs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ff375770ceb443eeb707f34b24136845 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-ff375770ceb443eeb707f34b241368452025-02-09T12:45:26ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111310.1038/s41467-024-55705-wRoof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protectionSebastian Reining0Moritz Wussow1Chad Zanocco2Dirk Neumann3Climate Action Research Lab (CARL), Chair of Information Systems Research, University of FreiburgClimate Action Research Lab (CARL), Chair of Information Systems Research, University of FreiburgCivil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford UniversityClimate Action Research Lab (CARL), Chair of Information Systems Research, University of FreiburgAbstract Wildfires are having disproportionate impacts on U.S. households. Notably, in California, over half of wildfire-destroyed homes (54%) are in low-income areas. We investigate the relationship between social vulnerability and wildfire community preparedness using building permits from 16 counties in California with 2.9 million buildings (2013–2021) and the U.S. government’s designation of disadvantaged communities (DACs), which classifies a census tract as a DAC if it meets a threshold for certain burdens, such as climate, environmental, and socio-economic. Homes located in DACs are 29% more likely to be destroyed by wildfires within 30 years, partly driven by a gap in roof renewals, one of several important home hardening actions. Homes in DACs have 28% fewer roof renewals than non-DACs and post-wildfire, non-DAC homes have more than twice the increase in renewals (+17%) compared to DAC homes (+7%). Our research offers policy insights for narrowing this equity gap in renewals for wildfire-prone areas. We recommend increasing financial support for roof renewals and targeted awareness campaigns for existing programs which are not sufficiently emphasized in wildfire strategies, particularly in DACs.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55705-w |
| spellingShingle | Sebastian Reining Moritz Wussow Chad Zanocco Dirk Neumann Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection Nature Communications |
| title | Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection |
| title_full | Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection |
| title_fullStr | Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection |
| title_full_unstemmed | Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection |
| title_short | Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection |
| title_sort | roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55705-w |
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