## 3 Results
### Participants' Perception Related to Wildland Fire-Induced Risks and Its Mitigation
#### 3.2.3 Views about the Construction of a Ring Road with a Width of 70 m  
In response to the question entitled, \"According to [PERSON] et al. 2018, we recommend that the construction of a ring road with a width of about 70 m around a community as shown in the following figure (referred to as Figure 6 in this document) may potentially reduce wildland fire-induced risks. Do you agree with this statement? Please briefly explain your thought.\", we observed that at least 72% of the participants agreed (see Table 3). In further explanation, they mentioned that such a ring road would provide an extra buffer zone of protection from wildland fires, add scenic beauty to the community, offer alternate exit route of evacuation during an emergency (e.g., highway 63 was the only  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Response** & **Percentage** \\ \hline Agree & 68 \\ Somewhat Agree & 8 \\ Disagree & 12 \\ Unknown & 4 \\ No Response & 8 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Response summary about the characteristics of 70 m buffer zone.  
highway to communicate with Edmonton and Timberlea during the recent flood), and ensure better accessibility for emergency service crews to combat fires, etc. In this context, we opted to quote some of the detailed comments, including:  
* _\"It (ring road with a width of about 70 m) provides separation of combustible material. The significance of a ring road provides a defensible space for emergency response crews. It provides opportunity for municipally supplied water supply to assist in mitigation efforts. Analysis of the 2016 Horse River Wildfire, the concept of a road around the perimeter of a neighbourhood proved to be beneficial in minimizing damage to structures along Signal Road in the Thickwood area of Fort McMurray.\";_
* _\"Possible ring road construction with the mentioned approximately 70 m gap will also a scientific safety measure to prevent forest fire to the community establishments, buildings, business facilities with residence. This ring type road with continuous gap zone will provide buffer safety space which facilitates the blowing wind carrying forest fire fuel (the leaves, dust of plant leaves, wood husk, dead tree husks) to burnt out itself within this space, so it will lose the fire catching ability. So, no fire expanded. With Minor modification to older communities like Thickwood, Timberlea, and Eagle ridge, it could be possible; and up front this concept could be in policy & plan for the new communities or on-going developments of existing new subdivisions like stone creek.\";_
* _\"Few communities already have right roads around and then children park facing forest. The walking trails are built around the communities facing forest. There is buffer zone between walking trails and communities. These are built after 2016 fire.\"_  
Though, some of the participants appreciated the concept of having a ring road especially for newly designed communities; however, noted that these might not be realistic and economical for the existing urban centres. In some cases, the participants indicated this (ring road) might not reduce the fire risk but would provide an alternate exit route and prevent bottlenecks during an emergency. Finally, the participants with disagreements quoted as, _\"Not applicable practically. Trees are long in the range of 10-20 m, wind accelerated fire to approximately over 100 m\"_ and _\"My opinion is roads shouldn't be used a buffer as the road  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Response** & **Percentage** \\ \hline Agree & 72 \\ Somewhat Agree & 8 \\ Disagree & 8 \\ Unknown & 4 \\ No Response & 8 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Response summary about the construction of a ring road with a width of 70 m.  
Figure 6: A schematic ring road with a width of about 70 m around a community that may potentially reduce wildland fire-induced risks.  
vehicles are also fire risk assets. Especially roads could be full with slow moving vehicles during rush hours\"._