This report examines how residential development adds to the costs of fighting wildfires, using Montana as a case study. Our findings document a strong correlation between the costs of fighting wildfires and the number of homes threatened and the potential for significant increases in the costs of fire protection if current development trends continue.
Montana’s “big sky” appeal, wealth of recreational opportunities, and growing economy have contributed to rapid population growth in the last few decades, particularly in the western portion of the state. Many of the new homes have been built in rural areas, outside existing cities and towns. Living in Montana’s forests, however, is not a risk free nor a low-cost proposition. Most years, federal, state, tribal and county governments spend millions of dollars suppressing the state’s inevitable wildfires to protect Montanan’s homes in the woods.
To better understand the current and future implications for Montana’s taxpayers, Headwaters Economics analyzed daily fire suppression costs across 18 large fires that burned in Montana during 2006 and 2007, systematically distilling out the portion of total fire suppression costs directly associated with housing – that is: the dramatically higher costs required to fight fires in the “Wildland Urban Interface.”
An online slideshow presentation of the above technical report is available.
Journal Article
Click here to view an article on the relationships between residential development, climate change, and fire suppression costs in Montana.
Essay on Wildfire Costs
Click here to view a Writers on the Range essay on residential development and increasing fire suppression costs.
