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A Social Phenomenon of Risk Perception: Saskatchewan Firefighters on the Yarnell Hill Fire Fatalities

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Abstract

Although researchers have indicated how “environmental” factors can influence organizations and their “risk systems,” few have examined the influence of globalization on risk systems. Drawing on Saskatchewan firefighters’ responses to the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire fatalities, this paper demonstrates the impact of globalization on risk perceptions in risk systems. Analysis of interview data shows how information, communication, and transportation technologies have influenced structural and symbolic risk system boundaries and consequently, risk perceptions. In a highly mass-mediated world, Saskatchewan firefighters received news of the Yarnell Hill Fire fatalities quickly. The news prompted them to consider themselves in the position of those who died. In trying to understand why the fatalities happened, Saskatchewan firefighters compared their own risk positions to those they associated with the dead. Regardless of the accuracy of their perceptions, they believed that their overall risk position was lower than that of their American counterparts. They thought, the difference in risk contributed to the fatalities. It seems the passage of time and the comparison of risk positions moderated firefighters’ intense emotions related to the fatalities, providing firefighters some sense of security. This phenomenon might similarly occur for others in risk systems and could affect risk system performance across contexts.

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Change history

  • 02 July 2023

    The original version of this paper was updated to present the correct layout of some paragraphs.

Notes

  1. I use many Canadian fire terms in this paper. Other countries sometimes use different terms for similar phenomena. For instance, in Canada, fire management refers to the “activities concerned with the protection of people, property, and forest areas from wildfire, and the use of prescribed burning, for the attainment of forest management and other land use objectives, all conducted in a manner that considers environmental, social, and economic criteria” (CIFFC 2022, 12). In this context, I use terms like “manage fire” and “managed fire.” I use the term “export” in reference to the exportation of firefighters from their host firebases elsewhere.

  2. Hotshots are a type of American firefighters. Their crews typically consist of 20 firefighters who primarily use hand tools to manage fire. Other American crews include smokejumper crews, helitack crews, and engine crews. In this paper, I use “wildland firefighter” and “firefighter” synonymously.

  3. From 1992 to 2012, about 51% of fires in Canada were human-caused and 49% were lightning-caused (NFD 2022). In the same timeframe, about 84% of fires in the USA were human-caused and 16% were lightning-caused (Balch et al. 2017). About 3.8% and 9.5% of land in Canada and the USA, respectively, is wildland-urban interface, the area where houses and wildland vegetation intermingle (Johnston and Flannigan 2018; Radeloff et al. 2018).

  4. Government fire agencies in Canada also use contract firefighters. The number of contract firefighters in the country is unknown.

  5. The wildland firefighting related fatality figures in this paper are approximations based on five main data sources (Alexander and Buxton-Carr 2011, CFFF 2022, CIFFC 2021, NIFC 2014, NWCG 2014–2020) and do not include prescribed fire related fatalities.

  6. My objective in this paper is not to determine why or how the firefighters died, or why more American firefighters die on average each year than Canadian firefighters, or the absolute validity levels of what the firefighters told me. Nor is it to propose who fights fire better, Americans or Canadians.

  7. The incident occurred in Deschutes National Forest on August 1, 2013. While two contract fallers were preparing to cut a burning Douglas Fir tree, the top of the tree broke off and struck them at the base of the tree. One faller died instantly. The other was seriously injured.

  8. Statistical data about close calls with fire in Saskatchewan are not publicly available for analysis to verify whether firefighting in the province was once riskier. When I worked for the Government of Saskatchewan, I heard many longstanding firefighters talk about close calls with fire and state that Saskatchewan firefighting was once riskier.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Leslie Irvine, Kevin Walby, and three anonymous reviewers for providing guidance, and Martin Alexander for providing information about Canadian firefighting fatalities. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Robert I. Scott

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Scott, R.I. A Social Phenomenon of Risk Perception: Saskatchewan Firefighters on the Yarnell Hill Fire Fatalities. Qual Sociol 46, 429–456 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-023-09540-y

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