People are the problem and the solution: characterizing wildfire risk and risk mitigation in a wildland-urban intermix area in the Southern Gulf Islands

People play an important role in both causing and mitigating risk in forest-urban intermix areas. We developed a wildfire risk assessment model that characterizes the nature and causes of wildfire risk and evaluates the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies for a wildland-urban intermix area in the southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia, Canada. The risk maps produced highlight the significance of both human-caused fire ignitions and residential developments’ vulnerability to wildfire in producing wildfire risk. Wildfire managers should recognize that people, as much or more than biophysical factors such as fuel type or topography, drive wildfire risk in wildland-urban intermix areas such as those found in the Gulf Islands. As such, successful wildfire mitigation strategies should be designed to encourage changes in human behaviour as it relates to fire ignition and residential development. Furthermore, a successful risk assessment must involve stakeholders, building their capacity to undertake ongoing risk mitigation initiatives.