Rare and highly destructive wildfires drive human migration in the U.S.

The scale of wildfire impacts to the built environment is growing and will likely continue under rising average global temperatures. We investigate whether and at what destruction threshold wildfires have influenced human mobility patterns by examining the migration effects of the most destructive wildfires in the contiguous U.S. between 1999 and 2020. We find that only the most extreme wildfires (258+ structures destroyed) influenced migration patterns. In contrast, the majority of wildfires examined were less destructive and did not cause significant changes to out- or in-migration. These findings suggest that, for the past two decades, the influence of wildfire on population mobility was rare and operated primarily through destruction of the built environment.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2024-08-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50630-4
Citations
23
Primary Topic
Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
26.04

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article

Rare and highly destructive wildfires drive human migration in the U.S.

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23 citations
Nature Communications
Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
26.04
article

Rare and highly destructive wildfires drive human migration in the U.S.

Elizabeth Fussell, Jennifer K. Balch, Kathryn McConnell, Stephan D. Whitaker, Jack DeWaard, Katherine J. Curtis, Lise A. St. Denis, Kobie Price
article en
23 citations

Abstract

The scale of wildfire impacts to the built environment is growing and will likely continue under rising average global temperatures. We investigate whether and at what destruction threshold wildfires have influenced human mobility patterns by examining the migration effects of the most destructive wildfires in the contiguous U.S. between 1999 and 2020. We find that only the most extreme wildfires (258+ structures destroyed) influenced migration patterns. In contrast, the majority of wildfires examined were less destructive and did not cause significant changes to out- or in-migration. These findings suggest that, for the past two decades, the influence of wildfire on population mobility was rare and operated primarily through destruction of the built environment.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 15(1)
University of Minnesota (US), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), University of British Columbia (CA), University of Colorado Boulder (US), University of Washington (US), Brown University (US), Twin Cities Orthopedics (US), Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (US), Population Council (US)
National Science Foundation, Brown University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Institutes of Health, University of Colorado Boulder, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
26.04
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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