Investments in fire management: does saving lives cost lives?

This paper attempts to evaluate the opportunity cost of investments in managing fire in Australia. While much debate takes place about fire, particularly in respect of bushfire (wildfire), very little of this is informed by a true understanding of its cost. Previous work by Ashe, McAneney and Pitman (2009) has helped quantify the aggregate cost of investments in fire mitigation, response capability and the consequences of fire, a cost which they put at about A$12 000 million or 1.3 per cent of GDP in 2005