Managing fire response and public communication to support risk-based decisionmaking

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In response to this event, Rocky Mountain Research Station’s (RMRS) fire management specialist Brad Pietruszka and colleagues wanted to understand how often fires like the Tamarack Fire occur, the driving factors behind the initial decisions in those fires, and, in turn, how they may feed the “let burn” misperception. With perspective as a fire manager, Pietruszka suspected a communication failure; and as a researcher, he turned to empirical research to investigate this question. “We wanted to see how often this type of outcome has occurred to understand what may be informing the ‘let burn’ dialogue,” Pietruszka says.