Abstract
This chapter examines factors associated with climate change and other evolving technological and societal changes behind the upward trend in the number, scope, severity, and human health and safety, economic, and environmental impacts and costs of large-scale wildfire events. The chapter describes these factors and looks at how they have collectively contributed to an altered wildfire risk landscape and describes how they have increased vulnerabilities and potential consequences for global societies. The chapter employs the state of California as a case study with focus on the unprecedented 2017–2020 wildfire season, which was notable for numerous large-scale wildfires that devastated communities in the northern and southern parts of the state. The case study illuminates some of the more significant impacts of these interrelated climate, technological, and societal change factors in California’s large-scale wildfires over those 3 years, examining the role they played in escalating wildfire risk to communities and providing examples of various impacts and challenges. The study also identifies significant lessons learned from California’s large-scale wildfires during that time period. Lastly, the chapter outlines and describes how to develop a model comprehensive large-scale wildfire community resilience strategy that:
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Can be customized for use by multiple communities in a region
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Engages key public and private sector and nonprofit stakeholders to mitigate existing and emerging large-scale wildfire risks
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Identifies priority large-scale wildfire resilience research, policy, and capabilities gaps that require inclusion in the strategy
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Can be implemented on a continuous basis through collaborative multi-stakeholder actions and shared investments
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Scalingi, P.L. (2021). Creating Wildfire-Resilient Communities. In: Brears, R.C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42462-6_11
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