Wildfire Risk and Self-Protective Investment in Eugene-Springfield, Oregon

Last registered on October 01, 2026

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Wildfire Risk and Self-Protective Investment in Eugene-Springfield, Oregon

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0014003

Initial registration date

July 10, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

July 16, 2024, 3:29 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

October 01, 2026, 6:13 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Oregon

Primary Investigator

Name

Judson Boomhower

Affiliation

University of California San Diego

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Patrick Baylis

PI Affiliation

University of British Columbia

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Bob Horton

PI Affiliation

Western Fire Chiefs Association

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2024-07-11

End date

2025-07-01

Keywords

Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Like other weather-related disasters, the occurrence of severe wildfires is growing throughout North America. This escalating risk can be mitigated through efforts by property owners to manage vegetation and other flammable material near homes. Despite the cost-effectiveness
of these investments, take-up is low. There are several economic and psychological theories for why beneficial self-protective investments in wildfire readiness could have low take-up despite their likely cost-effectiveness: these could include lack of information, complexity and psychological frictions, credit/cash constraints, and spatial externalities across neighboring properties. We propose to conduct a study to identify interventions to address these barriers. We will randomize households in areas with high wildfire risk to receive (1) information about existing resources to support defensible space (e.g., a home assessment from the local fire department) and (2) information about existing
resources and a financial incentive. We will also have a pure control group that will not receive any outreach. .

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Baylis, Patrick, Judson Boomhower and Bob Horton. 2026. "Wildfire Risk and Self-Protective Investment in Eugene-Springfield, Oregon." AEA RCT Registry. October 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14003-1.1

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We will randomize households in areas with high wildfire risk to receive (1) information about existing resources to support defensible space (e.g., a home assessment from the local fire department) and (2) information about existing resources and a financial incentive. We will also have a pure control group that will not receive any outreach.

Intervention (Hidden)

The experiment includes 3 treatment arms and a control group. Homes will be placed into treatment clusters of up to 10 houses with neighbors on the same street. In total there are 400 clusters.

Treatment 1 is a $100 financial incentive for receiving an inspection and completing wildfire safety improvements on the property. Treatment 2 is a $200 financial incentive for receiving an inspection and completing wildfire safety improvements on the property. Treatment 3 is an information intervention. All 3 treatments are delivered by mail and include information about free home inspections and other available services from Eugene Springfield Fire. The treatment letters specifically call for these actions:

- Property address numbers are clearly displayed
- Roof and gutters cleared of combustible materials
- 1st 5 feet around the home cleared of combustible material and vegetation
- Firewood moved 30 feet or as far as possible from the home
- Grass mowed to 4 inches or less

Intervention Start Date

2024-07-11

Intervention End Date

2024-11-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The main variables of interest are 1) a measure of takeup, which is defined as an indicator for whether a homeowner gets in touch with Eugene Springfield Fire during the study period to request assistance from the district, and 2) (if staff resources permit at Eugene Springfield Fire), curbside assessments of the encouraged behaviors by Eugene Springfield Fire personnel (e.g., roofs and gutters cleared of combustible materials).

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We will randomize households in areas with high wildfire risk to receive (1) information about
existing resources to support defensible space (e.g., a home assessment from the local fire
department) and (2) information about existing resources and a financial incentive. We will
also have a pure control group that will not receive any outreach.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization of homes by researchers using a computer.

Randomization Unit

Street level. Each cluster is a set of at most 10 homes located on the same street. If a street
contains more than 10 homes, we divide it up, clustering homes together in sets of 10 by
their address number. In other words, if William Street has houses numbered from 1, 2, …,
18, we would create two clusters: the first group would have the homes from 1-10 William
Street, while the second cluster would have homes from 11-18 William Street.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

There are 400 clusters. Each cluster contains between 1 and 10 homes on the same street, as described above.

Sample size: planned number of observations

There are 2,582 homes in the sample.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The target number of observations by treatment arm is:
400 outreach homes
250 subsidy 100
250 subsidy 200
1682 control

We won't hit these exactly due to the randomization occurring by cluster, and clusters having varied numbers of homes.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB