Is it worth the millions of dollars spent each year to fight forest fires?

Question

Is it worth the millions of dollars spent each year to fight forest fires?

Answer 1

Oh yes.

Quite apart from the effect on flora and fauna, there is the loss of oxygen and heat absorption.

After the fires around Athens, they reckon that the average summer temperature in the city could rise by 1 or 2 degrees purely because of the loss of the forest.

Answer 2

It depends on what we are fighting forest fires for. What price do we put on human life, health of water catchments, value of timber, biodiversity values.

Answer 3

A lot depends on the location

If they are around human settlement,

Is  there a choice ,to leave them burn is not possible everything must always be done to try put them out .

The damage is far more than what is spend on trying to put them out or control.

When flora and fauna ,agriculture ,homes and lives are in danger and lost.

Some friends in South Africa lost their whole farm ,animals ,buildings restaurant and hotel all in one go from a veld fire

Answer 4

Not that fires are a good thing, but they are actually an important part of life for a forest.  A fire will clear out dead underbrush and trees.  The result is a much healthier forest.

Answer 5

depends on the fire no two are the same nor can they all be lumped into a single group

Answer 6

The problem with fighting forest fires is that, we tend to put out every little fire that starts up.  This is good in the short term, but in the long term, the fuels on the forest floor build up and eventually a fire comes along that we can no longer control because it is too intense due to excessive fuels.  Forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystems and some trees and even animals depend on them to either open seed casings for reproduction or to provide new habitat.  We should spend the money on understanding forest dynamics and when is a good time to prescribe a burn rather than wait until it is too late and then people get scared because it is uncontrollable....and then it encroaches on urban areas which threatens peoples lives.

Answer 7

We could just let it all burn up.

Answer 8

Do you mean; Would they spend so much money fighting those fires, when the temperatures are rising and ground getting drier, were it not for some rich folk living there in overgrown log cabins?