The economic value of fire damages in Tuscan agroforestry areas

Fagarazzi C; Fratini R; Montanino M; Viccaro M; Cozzi M; Romano S; Riccioli F

doi:10.3832/ifor3607-013

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry (Feb 2021)

The economic value of fire damages in Tuscan agroforestry areas

Fagarazzi C,
Fratini R,
Montanino M,
Viccaro M,
Cozzi M,
Romano S,
Riccioli F

Affiliations

Fagarazzi C: University of Florence, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, p.le delle Cascine 18, I-50144 Firenze - Italy
Fratini R: University of Florence, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, p.le delle Cascine 18, I-50144 Firenze - Italy
Montanino M: University of Florence, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, p.le delle Cascine 18, I-50144 Firenze - Italy
Viccaro M: University of Basilicata, School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, v. dell’Ateneo Lucano, I-85100 Potenza - Italy
Cozzi M: University of Basilicata, School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, v. dell’Ateneo Lucano, I-85100 Potenza - Italy
Romano S: University of Basilicata, School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, v. dell’Ateneo Lucano, I-85100 Potenza - Italy
Riccioli F: University of Pisa, Department of Veterinary science - rural economic section, v.le delle Piagge 2, I-56124 Pisa - Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor3607-013
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 41 – 47

Abstract

Read online

The Tuscan Region (Central Italy) spends about 12 million euros every year in the prevention and suppression of forest fires. In this context, this study aims to analyse the economic and environmental benefits derived from fire suppression activities. Starting from a case study of a real fire event in Tuscany, we simulated three hypothetical scenarios (with different fire durations) without fire extinction activities planned by using the open source software FARSITE. Benefits derived from fire extinction activities can be quantified as the avoided damage, which has been calculated through the estimation of the total economic value of forests not destroyed by fire thanks to the extinction action. The avoided damage is represented by the difference between values of forest areas burned by the real fire event and those burned by simulated fire. By providing an economic estimation of avoided damages, our results confirm that forest fire services and forest management have a high impact on both the economy and the environment.

Published in iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

ISSN: 1971-7458 (Online)
Publisher: Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF)
Country of publisher: Italy
LCC subjects: Agriculture: Forestry
Website: https://iforest.sisef.org

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords