The top of the year has been a challenge for Southern California, and a reminder for the nation of the devasting impacts of fires. As of Jan. 27, the Los Angeles wildfires have killed at least 28 people, forced over 200,000 to evacuate, and destroyed or damaged 16,255 structures. The wildfires have led to discussion on what can be done to prevent them as well as the government response to the fires and assisting populations affected.

Wildfires are an issue in Florida as well. On average, the Sunshine State experiences the second highest number of wildfires in the nation, according to Orange County Fire Rescue. At UCF, wildfires and the region’s crisis communication strategies have been studied over the years.

Here three alumni share insight on fire prevention and response that impact California, Florida and other regions.

Protection Through Prevention

For Zach Prusak ’88 ’97MS, a bachelor’s and master’s biology graduate and wildland fire training specialist at Tall Timbers, a nonprofit that researches fire , the recent fires in California were exacerbated due to a fire behavior concept called alignment, where three key factors influencing how a fire behaves (fuels, weather, and topography) were all favorably positioned together, creating conditions for potentially extreme fire behavior, like rapid spread and high intensity. In this case, the extreme Santa Ana winds, mountainous terrain with dense development and flammable vegetation provided the conditions for the wildfires to spread rapidly throughout the neighborhood, spreading from house to house, pushed by the 80 mph winds.

For Floridians, this is like the alignment of conditions the state experienced in the Florida firestorm of 1998, one of the worst wildfire disasters in Florida’s history. Nearly 2,300 wildfires with almost 500,000 acres burned, while over 300 homes were damaged or destroyed, and the value of lost timber exceeded $300 million.

The Florida firestorm of 1998 also was a main factor in the growth of the state’s prescribed fire program, from a statutory standpoint. With 36 years of experience working with prescribed fire, Prusak is qualified as a prescribed fire burn boss type 2 and state certified burner in Florida. He says prescribed fires are beneficial to the area’s ecosystem and reduce the intensity of wildfires.

“There’s nothing like [prescribed fires,]” Prusak says. “It is one of the most important land management tools we have.”

This is a complex issue with many factors, some of which are decades in the making, so there is not one “simple fix.” Prescribed fires are a part of the solution, but other factors are just as important, such as supporting building codes that specify “FireWise” construction methods and keeping plants a specific distance away from the house to avoid becoming fuel for fires. House locations should also be examined, such as reconsidering building in dynamic areas with great views that are fire prone, similar to building beachside homes in Florida that are in the path of hurricanes.

Decisions in Development

When a community is affected by wildfires, it not only must manage the fires themselves but also examine the area’s preparedness for potential fires. Political science and public affairs alum Ratna Dougherty ’13 ’23PhD examines key emergency communication strategies as an assistant professor at the University of South Florida. Her work explores interorganizational networks, governance and emergency management. As part of her studies at UCF, Dougherty went to Maui, Hawaii, in 2023 to observe areas affected by the wildfires.

Similar to the lucrative area of Lahaina in Maui, Dougherty says there may be challenges with developers interested in the Los Angeles region. In October 2023, more than 3,700 homeowners filed insurance claims in the Maui fire, with nearly 1,500 properties suffering a total loss, according to the Insurance Division (ID) in Hawaii’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. As of January 2024, ID’s data shows roughly 40% of claim money has not been paid, totaling more than $440 Million. A similar issue could happen in Los Angeles, with thousands of residents dropped by their insurers before the fires.

“You have people that still owe a mortgage or can’t rebuild because they don’t have the money,” Dougherty says. “And you’re going to have [developers] that are predatory in nature coming in. One of the critical things to consider, as we look at emergency response and recovery measures, is how are we going to protect people’s homes?”

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services began reviewing emergency plans from at least 10 counties every year, in 2022, with all county emergency plans reviewed by 2028. Priority was given to counties with a high risk for wildfire disasters. To improve an area’s preparedness in responding to natural disasters like wildfires, Dougherty says emergency management plans must be updated every few years or when a major disaster hits.

“If California does not immediately say, ‘Let’s look at our policies for response, let’s look at our building codes, our zoning regulations,’ I can’t think of any emergency management scholar that’s going to tell you that history won’t repeat itself.”

Inclusive Approaches to Emergency Response

Wildfires also have the potential to affect various populations in different ways, which is why response and communication efforts related to these events should be diversified. Brie Haupt ’18PhD, who received her doctorate in public affairs at UCF, is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and has studied crisis communication during wildfires, focusing on vulnerable populations. Through her research, she has found the states that have the highest wildfire risk and threat to communication infrastructure are California, Florida and Texas. Being unable to receive messages that a wildfire has happened lessens the time community members have to respond.

Through her work, Haupt has seen the effect that natural disasters have on vulnerable populations.

“I’ve seen a lot of the impact of the socially vulnerable when it comes to California and the response with individuals who needed assistance because they have a wheelchair and they need to be able to evacuate with a form of transportation that can handle [that],” Haupt says.

In Florida, some of the crisis communication studies Haupt conducted examined the lack of language options. One study — which was conducted with Claire Knox, UCF professor and emergency management academic program coordinator— investigated multilingual emergency communication using data from the social media platform X. Out of approximately 3,500 emergency-related tweets gathered, approximately 20 were in Spanish and were retweets of the FEMA Espanol account, which wouldn’t have local information community members might need, such as evacuation shelter locations.

In addition to improving non-English emergency communication and strengthening cell tower coverage so people can communicate amid natural disasters, Haupt says leveraging community leaders and knowing how to communicate with them is key. Haupt says some of the best communication she’s seen comes from word-of-mouth programs, with emergency management professionals utilizing community leaders to help relay the information.

While California is in the news for the wildfires, crisis communication and the support of vulnerable populations will need to be examined in the state, as well as many fire-prone areas across the nation.

“There’s so many factors that are causing the response to California to be so difficult and it just gets exacerbated if we can’t plan and mitigate and do proactive measures,” Haupt says.