Maintain Your Priorities

We have referred perhaps too often to the unpredictability of wildfires. We have done so, however, out of concern that some people fall victim to an alluring fallacy. Sometimes increased safety measures have the paradoxical effect of making the situation less safe. People are often moved to adopt increased safety measures because they become uncomfortable with their assessment of the risks they see around them. Safety measures reduce that apprehension. But the reduced perception of risk may allow, or even encourage, people to accept a higher level of risk than they otherwise would.

Thus, providing sources of water, pumps and hoses might encourage some people to be less than diligent about brush clearing or maintaining a defensible space around their homes. Worst of all, false confidence may cause some people to run risks they should not, or lead them to delay evacuation until too late. Having a good Nomex brush suit and face mask might encourage some people to get closer to a fire than they otherwise might.

These people are making a bad trade--they are trading away their safety margin by accepting a higher level of risk.

Maintaining your priorities means remembering that all the precautions you took were not designed to make you a firefighter. They were designed to increase the likelihood that a valuable asset--your home--would survive a local hazard.

But, your most valuable asset is your life and the lives of your family. Don't let the warm feeling of having accomplished one purpose make you lose sight of a higher one.