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Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- Natural Disasters of 2017: Congressional Considerations Related to FEMA Assistance( -- Abstract -- Stafford Act Declarations and Response -- Federal Financial Assistance -- Funding -- Chapter 2 -- 2017 Hurricane Season: Federal Support for Electricity Grid Restoration in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico( -- Abbreviations -- Why GAO Did This Study -- What GAO Found -- Background -- Puerto Rico -- U.S. Virgin Islands -- FEMA's Public Assistance Program -- FEMA's Community Disaster Loan Program -- the Federal Role in Electricity Grid Restoration Was Unprecedented in Puerto Rico, and Various Factors Affected the Support Provided in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- Federal Support Provided to Restore Electricity in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in Response to the 2017 Hurricanes Included an Unprecedented Role for the Federal Government -- Grants, Direct Federal Assistance, and Loans from FEMA -- Coordination and Technical Assistance from DOE -- Temporary Power from USACE -- Unprecedented Roles by FEMA and USACE in Puerto Rico -- Logistical Challenges and Other Factors Affected Federal Support to Restore Electricity -- Agency Comments -- List of Requesters -- Appendix I: Timelines of Federal and Other Efforts to Support Electricity Grid Restoration -- Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security -- Chapter 3 -- Puerto Rico Hurricanes: -- Status of FEMA Funding, Oversight, -- and Recovery Challenges( -- Abbreviations -- Why GAO Did This Study -- What GAO Found -- Background -- FEMA's Public Assistance Program -- The Use of Alternative Procedures for Public Assistance Projects in Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's Central Recovery Office Oversees Federal Recovery Spending.

An overwhelming majority of Californians say the threat of wildfires is a problem in their part of the state. Around one in three residents have a great deal of confidence in government readiness to respond to wildfires.

Federal policy has embraced risa management as an appropriate paradigm for wildfire management. Economic theory suggests that over repeated wildfire events, potential economic costs and risas of ecological damage are optimally balanced when management decisions are free from biases, risa aversion, and risa seeking. Of primary concern in this article is how managers respond to wildfire risa, including the potential effect of wildfires (on ecological values, structures, and safety) and the likelihood of different fire outcomes. We use responses to a choice experiment questionnaire of U.S. federal wildfire managers to measure attitudes toward several components of wildfire risa and to test whether observed risa attitudes are consistent with the efficient allocation of wildfire suppression resources. Our results indicate that fire managers' decisions are consistent with nonexpected utility theories of decisions under risa. Managers may overallocate firefighting resources when the likelihood or potential magnitude of damage from fires is low, and sensitivity to changes in the probability of fire outcomes depends on whether probabilities are close to one or zero and the magnitude of the potential harm.

WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION FEDERAL FUNDING AND SPENDING -- WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION FEDERAL FUNDING AND SPENDING -- Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 WILDFIRE SPENDING: BACKGROUND, ISSUES, AND LEGISLATION IN THE 114TH CONGRESS* -- SUMMARY -- WILDFIRE BACKGROUND -- Wildfire Statistics -- Wildland-Urban Interface -- Federal Assistance for Nonfederal Wildfires -- Disaster Declarations -- Fire Management Assistance Grants -- Disaster Relief Fund -- WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT APPROPRIATIONS -- Suppression Appropriations -- FLAME

"As flames rushed through the wooded hills near San Diego, California, people were forced to evacuate with what little they could take in a hurry. When the wildfire drew near, Nancy began packing up her pets. Dogs, cats, and birds alike jammed into her truck. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't save all of her beloved animals alone. Follow along as several heroes stepped in to help Nancy's furry and feathered family make it to safety in this graphic adventure of animal escapes. Then, learn about more rescuers who saved animals from wildfires"--

SB07-17/18: Wildfires in Montana. This resolution was referred to the Student Political Action Committee unanimously on a unanimous vote call during the September 20, 2017 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana.

Purpose
Emergency evacuation plans are often developed under the assumption that evacuees will use wayfinding strategies such as taking the shortest distance route to their nearest exit. The purpose of this paper is to analyze empirical data from a wildfire evacuation analyzed to determine whether evacuees took a shortest distance route to their nearest exit and to identify any alternate wayfinding strategies that they may have used.


Design/methodology/approach
The wildfire evacuation analysis presented in this paper is the outcome of a natural experiment. A post-fire online survey was conducted, which included an interactive map interface that allowed evacuees to identify the route that they took. The survey results were integrated with several additional data sets using a GIS. Network analysis was used to compare the routes selected by evacuees to their shortest distance routes, and statistical hypothesis testing was employed to identify the wayfinding strategies that may have been used.


Findings
The network analysis revealed that 31 percent of evacuees took a shortest distance route to their nearest exit. Hypothesis testing showed that evacuees selected routes that had significantly longer distances and travel times than the shortest distance routes, and indicated that factors such as the downhill slope percentage of routes and the elevation of exits may have impacted the wayfinding process.


Research limitations/implications
This research is best regarded as a spatiotemporal snapshot of wayfinding behavior during a single wildfire evacuation, but could inspire additional research to establish more generalizable results.


Practical implications
This research may help emergency managers develop more effective wildfire evacuation plans.


Originality/value
This research presents an analysis of an original data set that contributes to the broader body of scientific knowledge on wayfinding and spatial behavior during emergency evacuations.