Issues in forest restoration: Forest restoration treatments: Their effect on wildland fire suppression costs

We modeled the effects of proposed forest restoration treatments in Arizona's Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) on fire behavior characteristics and fire suppression costs. We found two significant factors that help explain total wildfire suppression costs: 1) distance from the wildfire to the wildland-urban interface and 2) the proportion of fires with high burn severity. Given our results, we estimate a range for wildland suppression costs at $706-$825 per acre for the current conditions of the 4FRI landscape. After the proposed forest restoration treatments, the suppression costs should be reduced to $287-$327 per acre for the same size fire