Developed by Erica D. Kuligowski (RMIT University, Australia), Ruggiero Lovreglio (Massey University, New Zealand), Xilei Zhao (University of Florida, USA), Xiang Yan (University of Florida, USA), Thomas J. Cova (University of Utah, USA), and Daniel Nilsson (University of Canterbury, New Zealand).
The Marshall Fire started on December 30, 2021, and it spread rapidly before being largely extinguished on the night of December 31, 2021. The Marshall Fire was the most destructive fire in Colorado history, surpassing and doubling the number of destroyed residences by the 2013 Black Forest Fire, which destroyed 489 homes. The wildfire burned over 6,200 acres and destroyed over 1,000 structures located in the City of Louisville, the Town of Superior, and unincorporated Boulder County. The estimated cost of the damage to residential structures within Boulder County is $513,212,589. The fire also caused the deaths of two people and the evacuation of around 30,000 people.
To better understand people’s evacuation behavior during the Marshall fire and prepare for future wildfire events, we developed and distributed an online survey of households who were impacted by the fire. The survey was coded within the Qualtrics survey platform. We collected a total of 294 valid survey responses. This survey aimed to collect household-level data on the factors identified as influential on risk perception, evacuation decision, departure time, destination choice, route choice, and mode choice. The survey used in this study was closely adapted from two previous studies of the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, California and the 2016 Chimney Tops 2 fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. This was done to allow for comparison across the three datasets, where applicable. The survey collected data on a number of variables, including sociodemographic factors, pre-event variables (e.g., previous experience and fire risk awareness), the types of warnings received, the types of fire cues perceived (e.g., smoke, embers, or flames), their level of risk perception (at the time of evacuation decision), and whether participants decided to stay in place or evacuate and their evacuation departure time, destination choice, route choice, and mode choice. This project was approved as exempt by the University of Florida Institutional Review Board, and no personal identifiable information was collected by the survey. Note that all participants provided informed consent before taking the survey. Here, we share the Kincade fire survey instrument in English. This survey instrument can be readily adapted by researchers to study other wildfire evacuations around the world.
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2021 Marshall Fire Evacuation Household Survey.pdf: the 2021 Marshall Fire evacuation household survey questionnaire
If you found this questionnaire useful for your research, emergency planning, and/or decision-making, we would be grateful if you cite this survey instrument. You can cite the instrument like this:
Kuligowski, E. D., Lovreglio, R., Zhao, X., Yan, X., Cova, T. J., & Nilsson, D. (2021). 2021 Marshall Fire Evacuation Household Survey. https://github.com/EvacuationBehavior/2021-Marshall-Fire-Survey-Study/blob/main/2021%20Marshall%20Fire%20Evacuation%20Household%20Survey.pdf
Forrister, A., Yan, X., Yin, Z., Zhao, X., Cova, T., Lovreglio, R., Nilsson, D., & Kuligowski, E. (2022). Survey of Evacuation Behavior in the 2021 Marshall Fire, Colorado. Natural Hazards Center Quick Response Grant Report Series, 349. Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder. Available at: https://hazards.colorado.edu/quick-response-report/survey-of-evacuation-behavior-in-the-2021-marshall-fire-colorado.
For any questions, please contact Dr. Erica Kuligowski via erica.kuligowski@rmit.edu.au.