Open AccessEconomic impact of weather forecasts for forest fires
Author(s) -
Sol Bernard
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
meteorological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1469-8080
pISSN - 1350-4827
DOI - 10.1002/met.5060010210
Subject(s) - beneficiary , environmental science , order (exchange) , vegetation (pathology) , meteorology , business , climatology , geography , finance , medicine , pathology , geology
In order to help in fighting forest fires, South‐cast Météo‐France has, for the past 20 years, been issuing forecasts for small zones about 900 km 2 in size. These zones have been defined by taking into account relief, vegetation and micro‐climate. The main beneficiary of this, assistance is the Civil Security Force. This article describes the meteorological assistance that is given and the way this has developed, and makes an attempt to measure the economic impact of this assistance. It is relatively easy to estimate the direct costs of supplying the forecast services, the costs of the fire prevention implemented as a consequence of these forecasts, and the cost of fire fighting and replanting. Savings made to the prevention system and the area of forest due to the forecasts arc more difficult to evaluate. Nevertheless, estimates of these amounts are given.