Geographic Mapping as a Tool for Identifying Communities at High Risk for Fires

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Environmental Health
• Community Safety

Background:

• Home fires disproportionately affect high-risk populations.
• Targeted interventions are crucial for effective home fire safety (HFS).
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can identify high-risk areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess if the HFS study sample included participants from highest fire risk areas.
• To identify high-risk geographic areas for future HFS interventions.
• To evaluate the utility of GIS in fire risk assessment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized GIS software to map study participants' residences to census tracts.
• Compared census tract data with participant data using seven established fire risk factors.
• Analyzed the distribution of participants across risk categories to evaluate sampling accuracy.

Main Results:

• 78% of census tracts with HFS interventions were identified as high or severe risk.
• Study participants had significantly lower median income and home values than the general census tract population.
• HFS interventions were implemented in 39% of high/severe risk census tracts, identifying 56 additional areas for future interventions.

Conclusions:

• The HFS study successfully sampled participants from high-risk areas.
• GIS-based fire risk models are valuable, underutilized tools for public health practice.
• Targeted GIS analysis can optimize resource allocation for community outreach and safety programs.