Living with wildfire: Community fire brigades and the transformation of wildfire governance in Los Angeles

• In Event: 41016 - Disaster and Questions of Place

Abstract

As the effects of climate change become more pronounced, people will increasingly be compelled to engage in an array of hyperlocal actions to respond to disruptions experienced at the household level. Yet what happens when these bottom-up, everyday adaptations come into conflict with established, top-down approaches to emergency management and adaptation planning? Through what pathways can everyday adaptations be harnessed to transform local environmental governance structures? This paper will address these questions in an urban context by examining the extended negotiations surrounding local, informal volunteer fire brigades and the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) that resulted in a new pilot partnership that allows a select group of trained civilians to participate in wildfire management in the Santa Monica Mountains region. Drawing on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in neighborhoods with active volunteer brigades, this paper will show how household level behavioral modifications—investment in personal protective equipment, fire suppression equipment, home hardening, and organizing regular training drills with neighbors—proliferated in communities affected by the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which laid the groundwork for this emerging transformation of wildfire governance in Los Angeles County. This case outlines the collective actions taken by residents aimed at protecting homes and their associated property values, and considers the implications of this approach to resilience for established emergency management operations along with broader patterns of wildfire risk perceptions among more affluent Southern California homeowners.

Author

• Nick Tinoco, University of California-Los Angeles