(InEDC) BY Matthew Pera, The Lookout Published: September 7, 2023
Firefighting is often far more expensive, and more dangerous to firefighters, than prescribed burning, but officials in California have done little to invest in substantively expanding the use of prescribed fire.
To illustrate the difference in cost between fire suppression and preemptive forest management practices, we took a look at how much our government has spent responding to several of the fires currently burning in California. Here’s how much these fires have cost so far, according to fire officials:
Smith River Complex
Size: 84,000 acres
Firefighting cost: $54 million
Cost per acre: $642
SRF Lightning Complex
Size: 16,000 acres
Firefighting cost: $38 million
Cost per acre: $2,375
South Fork Complex
Size: 4,000 acres
Firefighting cost: $20 million
Cost per acre: $5,000
Deep Fire
Size: 4,000 acres
Firefighting cost: $10 million
Cost per acre: $2,500
For comparison, prescribed fire can be done as inexpensively as $500 per acre on a large-scale project. The cost of hand-thinning a forest ranges between $1,500 and $4,000 per acre.
It’s difficult to put a price on the value of firefighting when we’re talking about saving homes and lives. But many of the fires currently burning in northwest California are having ecologically beneficial effects and are not poised to burn into communities.
We’re likely headed into prescribed fire season, so there’s potential to let these fires run. But instead, our government is spending millions to put these fires out, despite lots of talk within the fire community in recent years about expanding the pace and scale of prescribed burning in California.
