Factors influencing community recovery decision making: A case study of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires

When large-scale disasters impact entire communities, those communities must in turn collectively negotiate the recovery process and associated recovery decisions. While these decisions affect the recovery outcomes of the community as a whole, they also affect the community’s constituent members. How resources are allocated, and which interests are privileged during recovery can contribute to the varying recovery outcomes experienced by different members of a community. In this context, the process of deciding who gets what, when and how during recovery becomes especially relevant. This paper summarises results from a single-case, exploratory case study which examined the recovery decision-making experiences of community groups following the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires. The study asked: Which factors influenced whether and how the values, perceptions, needs and interests of community groups in Fort McMurray were identified, solicited and prioritised in the recovery decision-making process following the wildfires? From the study, three factors emerged as influential to the recovery decision-making experiences of these community groups: organisational relationships, organisational capacity and the perceived value of nonprofit organisations. The study suggests that these factors may influence how disaster impacted communities solicit, identify and prioritise competing interests during recovery, and offers suggestions for practical improvement of the recovery process.