The Hagersville Tire Fire: Interpreting Risk through a Qualitative Research Design

This article outlines a research design used to study the effects of the Hagersville (Ontario, Canada) tire fire on the surrounding community. This was an "event driven" qualitative study that used open-ended interviews; given the nature of the fire and the surrounding community, this approach was deemed more appropriate than using a large-scale research instrument. Individuals and families in the community were anxious about their health due to the possibility of air, water, and soil contamination. Residents were forced to make life-style decisions based on perceptions of risk that were influenced by shared sociocultural conditions. The article describes a systematic approach for coming to terms with the way that individuals and families interpret and cope with risk. Preliminary findings are presented.