Professors
aid recent fire victims
By
Kristen Wooley
Daily Forty Niner
The
tragedy of the recent fires has left many
people devastated and homeless, and for
others, it has also been a time for researching
the tactics that may be used to prevent
future flames.
Two
such researchers are Wade and Ingrid Martin,
both professors at Cal State Long Beach,
and both dedicated to their work with the
U.S. Forest Services. The academics have
been most heavily involved in the last four
months, traveling to states such as Arizona
to talk with people about the safety precautions
they take or do not take to prevent the
spreading of a possible fire.
“We
look at individual home owners’ choices
and the risks they take, by the decisions
they make, in securing their home in cases
of a fire,” Wade said.
For
example, Wade describes people being told
to clear dry pine needles from their property.
When they don’t, he said, we try to
find out why they have made that decision.
Wade went on to say that he considers a
main purpose of this work to be acting as
the middle man between the people and the
forest service.
“I
think we give people a voice to take to
the policy makers,” Wade said. “We
catch on to the decisions they make and
the thoughts they have, and put it into
the technical voice that reaches the government
services.”
Traveling every other week, Ingrid described
the last few months as crazy.
“We
take turns going and talking to the people
because we have a daughter,” Ingrid
said.
The
Martin’s travel about twice a month
to Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, the
states which they have concentrated most
of their research on. They said they have
also spoken with people involved in the
Southern California fires as well.
“There
are a variety of reactions of people that
have lost their homes,” Ingrid said.
“For some, the house is their second
home, and don’t have all the family
treasures in it. Some, it’s their
first home and they have lost everything.”
She went on to say that as researchers,
her and her husband take different considerations
with different actions, they capture those
reactions, study them and find ways to get
through to people about prevention.
The
duo got into this research program after
living in the mountains of Colorado for
10 years and being constantly at risk for
enduring a forest fire. The couple started
talking to agencies about the land next
to theirs and how they could help clear
it or make it less of a hazard to their
own home. That was where the research began,
Ingrid said.
Wade
said he takes a more economical approach
when talking with the homeowners, like what
the expenses involve in securing a fire
hazardous area while his wife takes a more
psychological approach to the research and
analyzing the human dimension.
Together,
the professors bring to their classrooms
their research.
“We
are trying to help the forest services find
ways to communicate what should be being
practiced in forest service lands and let
them know that their decisions are also
effecting everyone around them,” Ingrid
said.
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