Community Wildfire Events as a Source of Social Conflict* Matthew S. Carroll Deptartment of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University Lorie L. Higgins Deptartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Idaho Patricia J. Cohn Deptartment of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University James Burchfield College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana ABSTRACT The literature notes that natural disasters, including wildfires, that damage human settlements often have the short-term effect of ‘‘bring- ing people together.’’ Less recognized is the fact that such events can also generate social conflict at the local level. This study examines the specific sources of such social conflict during and after community wildfire events. Examining qualitative data generated from six case studies of wildfires in the American West, we suggest that integrating the theories of Weber, Giddens, and Habermas with community interaction theory provides a context for understanding such conflict. Rationalized forms of interaction and problem solving imposed by extra-local organizations during and after wildfire events are often resisted by local actors who are also inhibited from acting due to local capacity limitations. Thus, conflict occurs when social relations are disembedded by non-local entities, and there is a perceived loss of local agency. Wildfire has been perceived as a threat to human communities in the American West since the time of the earliest European settlement (Pyne 2001). Stories of wildfires and heroic suppression efforts are part of the fabric of history in the region. For example, the 1910 fires in northern Idaho and Montana or the Tillamook burn in Oregon are legendary. But until 1988 or so, the general public seems to have believed that the ‘‘wildfire problem’’ was well in hand. This perception was due in no small part to the USDA Forest Service’s Smokey the Bear campaign and aggressive wildfire suppression efforts. Such perceptions began to change after the 1988 Yellowstone fires and the bad wildfire years of 2000 and 2002. The perception—and reality—of increased wildland fire threat to * This research was supported in part by funds from the Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Northern and Southwestern Regions of the USDA Forest Service. Corresponding author: Matthew S. Carroll, Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University, P.O. Box 646410, Pullman, WA 99164-6410, carroll@wsu.edu. Rural Sociology 71(2), 2006, pp. 261–280 Copyright Ó 2006 by the Rural Sociological Society