The urban side of the wildland-urban interface: a new fire audience identified following an extreme wildfire event in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Wildland-urban interface wildfires are increasingly impacting communities worldwide. In New Zealand this has been demonstrated by the destruction or damage of over 25 homes during the 2016-2017 fire season, the greatest number lost in 100 years. The wildfire which most impacted these statistics is the Port Hills fire, which resulted in the loss of nine houses and the evacuation of over 1400 residents on the margin of the city of Christchurch in February 2017. This wildfire opens the door to a new focus of attention required to address wildfire mitigation needs of suburban properties in the urban fringe in wildfire prone areas. Although mitigation measures for large and small rural properties are well understood by fire officials and conveyed to property owners, uptake has been minimal in the dense suburban communities which extend into the WUI. Suburban property owners in the urban fringe will require greater focus by fire managers to ensure residents are aware of the risk of wildfires, and adequately prepared to face the risk of potentially devastating wildfires in the future. However, these communities are not merely denser versions of their rural neighbours and lessons from other parts of the WUI may not apply. Engaging with them will necessitate understanding their differences and developing new messages appropriate to their context.