Rocky Mountain Research Station Publications
RMRS Online Publication
RMRS-RN-24WWW: Comparing resource values at risk from wildfires with
Forest Service fire suppression expenditures: examples from 2003
western Montana wildfire season
Calkin, David; Hyde, Kevin; Gebert, Krista; Jones, Greg. 2005. Comparing resource values at risk from wildfires with Forest Service fire suppression expenditures: examples from 2003 western Montana wildfire season. Res. Note RMRS-RN-24WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 8 p.
Determining the economic effectiveness of wildfire suppression activities is compli-cated by difficulties in identifying the area that would have burned and the associated resource value changes had suppression resources not been employed. We developed a case study using break-even analysis for two large wildfires from the 2003 fire season in western Montana -- the Black Mountain and Crazy Horse Fires. We used GIS to identify the location and taxable value of private residences within perimeters expanding in a likely direction of fire spread for both fires. We identified the size of an expanded perimeter where the market values of private property equaled the amount of money spent suppressing a fire (the break even point). This analysis showed that suppression expenditures on the Black Mountain Fire were economically justified if these efforts reduced the potential fire perimeter a modest amount. However, the potential fire perimeter for the Crazy Horse Fire would have had to be considerably larger than the actual fire perimeter to economically justify the associated suppression expenditures. We also demonstrated the ability to use this methodology to examine nonmarket resource values at risk on the Crazy Horse Fire.
Keywords: wildfire suppression costs, break-even analysis, cost containment, cadastral data
About PDFs: For best results, do not open the PDF in your Web browser. Right-click on the PDF link to download the PDF file directly to your computer. Click here for more PDF help or order a printed copy of this publication.
This publication available electronically only.
Download RMRS-RN-24WWW
http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_rn024.pdf
PDF File Size: 700 K
Title: RMRS-RN-24WWW:
Comparing resource values at risk from wildfires with Forest Service
fire suppression expenditures: examples from 2003 western Montana
wildfire season
Electronic Publish Date: February 18, 2005
Last Update: December
22, 2005