An economic evaluation of bushfire prevention and suppression

The Fire Management Program (FMP) of the Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for the prevention and suppression of fires on public land in the State of Victoria. This article reports on an economic evaluation of the net benefits of these fire management activities for a representative year. The FMP is calculated to yield high net benefits to Victoria from its investment in fire suppression and prevention, through a reduction in the value of agricultural, capital and forest assets which would otherwise be lost to bushfires.