Social and Economic Disparities Impact Wildfire Protection

(Adapted from University of Freiburg press release)

Key Insights:
• Low-income communities in California have a higher risk of being exposed to the consequences of wildfires.
• An international team of researchers from Stanford University and the University of Freiburg has investigated how social and economic disparities influence the ability of communities to protect themselves against wildfires.
• The scientists have published their study on disparities in wildfire preparedness in the journal Nature Communications.

An international team of researchers from Stanford University and the University of Freiburg has investigated how social and economic inequalities influence the ability of Californian communities to protect themselves against wildfires. They focused on roof renewals, one of the most effective but costly measures to make homes more resistant to fire. The scientists published their study on inequalities in wildfire preparedness in the multi-disciplinary journal Nature Communications.

Financial support and educational programs for wildfire preparedness

The researchers examined the relationship between social and economic vulnerability and community wildfire preparedness using building permits from 16 California counties with 2.9 million buildings from 2013 to 2021. The results show that structurally disadvantaged communities are less likely to implement essential measures such as roof replacements and could therefore be significantly more exposed to the consequences of wildfires in the future. For example, homes in communities classified as disadvantaged by the US government are 29 percent more likely to be destroyed by wildfires within 30 years than homes in less disadvantaged communities. At the same time, the rate of roof renewals is 28% lower. This also has an impact on future risks, as new roofs can reduce the risk of a home being destroyed by fire by up to 27 percentage points. “This research highlights the importance of targeted support and education programs for these disadvantaged communities to increase their resilience to wildfires,” explains Chad Zanocco from Stanford University.

“Our findings also reveal a stark disparity in post-wildfire home hardening efforts,” said Sebastian Reining, the study’s lead author. “Roof renewal rates increase by 17% in non-disadvantaged communities following a wildfire, compared to just 7% in disadvantaged communities. This highlights a familiar pattern: investments often follow catastrophes rather than precede them.” Investing in wildfire preparedness, particularly in home hardening, is crucial for wildfire-prone areas. These measures protect individual homes, but also provide collective benefits to entire communities. When neighbors adopt fire-resistant upgrades, the overall fire resilience of the area improves. 

Infobox:
Publication
Reining, S., Wussow, M., Zanocco, C. et al. Roof renewal disparities widen the equity gap in residential wildfire protection. Nat Commun 16, 463 (2025).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55705-w

Author information
Chad Zanocco is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where he is a member of the Stanford Sustainable Systems Lab (S3L). He received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, master’s degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from University of California - Davis, and PhD in Public Policy from Oregon State University, where he also received a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Science.

His research explores interactions between human, climate, and energy systems with a focus on how opinions and attitudes shape, and are shaped by, public policy. Some of his recent publications have examined how experience with power outages influence decisions to adopt residential solar and storage technologies, how negative experiences with extreme weather events impact public support for climate change mitigation policies, and the role that physical proximity to energy development projects has in forming perceptions about energy resources.

Sebastian Reining is a doctoral candidate under Prof. Dr. Dirk Neumann, Chair of Business Informatics at the University of Freiburg, and a member of the Climate Action Research Lab (CARL). In his research, he studies how households implement measures for adapting to and reducing climate risks.

The research project was funded in part by the European Union in the context of the HORIZON programme ‘Climate-Resilient Development Pathways in Metropolitan Regions of Europe (CARMINE)’.

The Climate Action Research Lab (CARL) at the University of Freiburg is a multidisciplinary research group dedicated to the development and evaluation of strategies for decarbonization and adaptation to the consequences of climate change. Led by Dr. Moritz Wussow, the group focuses on the data-driven investigation of the dynamics driving the diffusion of climate-relevant technologies and mitigation measures, as well as the evaluation of the effectiveness of regulatory interventions. CARL maintains close links with researchers in other European countries and the USA, including renowned institutions such as Stanford University, Berkeley Lab and Leiden University.