Development and Application of a Model for Suppression of Forest Fires

A deterministic model is suggested to describe the spread of free-burning wildland fires and the effect of various types of suppression activity thereon. The costs caused by fire are described and optimal levels of suppression forces are derived with the objective of minimizing the total costs of suppression plus fire damage. Costs incurred under optimal manning policies as given by the model are compared with the historical costs incurred on actual forest fires under present manning plans. Results indicate that significant dollar savings can be achieved in total fire caused costs by considerably increasing the size of fire suppression organizations.