Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 25 > Issue 1

Contribution of suppression difficulty and lessons learned in forecasting fire suppression operations productivity: A methodological approach

Francisco Rodríguez y Silva, Department of forest Engineering, University of Córdoba, Edificio Leonardo da Vinci, Spain, Armando González-Cabán, U.S Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, USA, agonzalezcaban@fs.fed.us
 
Suggested Citation
Francisco Rodríguez y Silva and Armando González-Cabán (2016), "Contribution of suppression difficulty and lessons learned in forecasting fire suppression operations productivity: A methodological approach", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 25: No. 1, pp 149-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfe.2016.10.002

Publication Date: 0/12/2016
© 0 2016 Francisco Rodríguez y Silva, Armando González-Cabán
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
JEL Codes:Q59
EfficiencyFire budgetsFire economicsFire managementFire program planningOperational plans
 

Share

Download article
In this article:
Introduction 
Knowledge capitalization and the Management Index 
Estimation of the efficiency of suppression methods with nonparametric methods 
Conclusions 

Abstract

We propose an economic analysis using utility and productivity, and efficiency theories to provide fire managers a decision support tool to determine the most efficient fire management programs levels. By incorporating managers’ accumulated fire suppression experiences (capitalized experience) in the analysis we help fire managers determine fire suppression productivity and efficient budget allocation. Furthermore, monitoring of the management index (MI) helps identify operational deficiencies in the different districts where the analysis is applied. This is so because internally the area contraction factor (ACF) provides information regarding the effectiveness of fire suppression operations by including a comparison ratio between the area affected and the potential fire area without suppression actions. We used the Almonaster fire that occurred in 2008 in the Huelva Province, Spain as a case study to test the applicability of the methodology. Our evaluation showed that the combinations of firefighting resources assigned to the Almonaster fire resulted in a fire suppression efficiency of only 33%, measured as the ratio between damages avoided and suppression costs involved.

DOI:10.1016/j.jfe.2016.10.002