Evacuation behaviour intentions based on the summer 2018 Swedish forest fire season

Abstract: A large number of forest fires occurred in Sweden during the summer 2018 on a total area of 21 000 hectares. Between 300 and 500 residents were evacuated from their home due to these fires. This situation was unfamiliar in Sweden at the time, and the routines for dealing with such crisis were challenged. This thesis aimed to investigate the communication and information strategies, the evacuation process and change in risk perception due to these fires. To evaluate these issues, a survey was performed by sending questionnaires to residents in the affected areas and to personnel, such as volunteers, workers on the county administrative boards and rescue workers, involved in the crisis. Of the residential respondents, 12 % received information about how to prepare themselves for an eventual evacuation and none in this group received information about how to fire safe their property. In the personnel group 36 % got information about how to prepare themselves for an evacuation and 12 % received information about how to fire safe their property. The survey responses seem to suggest that the uncertainty about the situation contributed to the residents feeling more threatened by the fires. Considering those without previous experience of large forest fires, 94 % of those in the residential respondent group declared that their risk perception had changed because of the fires. The corresponding numbers for the personnel group are 100 %. The main conclusion of this study is survey respondents indicate the need for further improve evacuation planning and communication during large forest fire scenarios. Therefore, it is recommended to investigate the launch of a Swedish programme to implement more preventive measure.