Perceptions of wildfire and climate change in the Western U.S.

Media studies have started to investigate how the public comprehend wildfire disasters and how to communicate the risk of wildfire to the public effectively in the context of global climate change. This survey project explores 1) perceptions of wildfire smoke exposure among the residents in the western U.S. 2) It also systematically measures how the public’s personal experience with wildfire disasters associates with their mitigation behavioral intentions toward climate change via emotional and psychological processes., Only US adults who age 18 and older were recruited as participants. First, quotas for gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, and political orientation were utilized to ensure a diverse US sample that had characteristics similar to US census data. Then, only participants from the 12 western states (i.e., fire-prone regions) were included as participants. Such states included: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Researchers hired Qualtrics, a survey company, for the data collection, and the screening was conducted by Qualtrics project manager., , # Perceptions of wildfire and climate change in the Western U.S.

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vsc](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xksn02vsc)

## Description of the data and file structure

Only US adults who age 18 and older were recruited as participants. First, quotas for gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, and political orientation were be utilized to ensure a diverse US sample that have characteristics similar to US census data. Then, only participants from the 12 western states (i.e., fire-prone regions) were included as participants. Such states include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Researchers hired Qualtrics, a survey company, for the data collection, and the screening were conducted by Qualtrics project manager.

Before data collection, we conducted a power analysis with 5% margin of error, 95% confidence level and 332,403,650 (2022 US population) as population size. We also considered ..., Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the University of Nevada Reno Institutional Review Board (Approval ID: 1873378-1). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. To de-identify the data, direct identifiable participant information such as names and IP addresses were removed.