Hazardous materials routing and siting decisions are based on multiple objectives, which often conflict. These objectives usually express risk, cost, and equity criteria. Multicriteria decision-making models for hazardous materials routing and siting are available. A common characteristic of these models is the generation of non inferior solutions. A solution is non inferior if no other solution can improve one of the objectives without degrading at least one other objective. Given the fact that only one of the non inferior solutions can be selected, it is necessary at a certain point of the decision-making process to consider the preferences of the decision makers. The preferences of decision makers are affected by their expertise and other non technical factors. A telephone interview survey of fire department chiefs in 95 connecticut cities and towns concerned tradeoffs between cost and safety of hazardous materials transportation and their preferences for hazardous materials storage facilities in rural areas. The survey identified factors affecting these preferences and indicated that community self-interest is one determinant of fire chiefs' preferences.
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