It is particularly in the agricultural and forestry sectors that land owners are faced with fire damage risk, and fire insurance can bring more stability to investments in these sectors. In the case of agricultural crops, short-term insurance against fire damage can be provided. However, in the case of forestry, longer-term insurance might have to be considered, as damage to plantations and forests can occur at any stage of the trees’ life cycle. The cost of insurance will have to weigh up against the impact such costs will have on capital expenditure and the return on investment, and financial managers will have to determine a threshold of what insurance costs are viable, and which are unrealistic.
There are various aspects in Fire Management where economics will play an important role. Some of these are:
• Fire fighting equipment and manpower
• Aerial fire fighting facilities/organizations
• Fire prevention costs, such as maintaining lookout systems
• Fire protection costs, such as maintaining fire breaks
All these combined will form part of the economical environment, and will have to be incorporated in budgets and accounts, to be weighed up against the income derived from tourism, agricultural crops, forest products, urban expansion and social responsibilities in rural areas.
8.3.1 Training Strategy
Training in Fire Management should be co-ordinated at the highest possible level of government, and should always be highly prioritised. The execution of fire management training policies, however, should be delegated to lower levels of government institutions or to private enterprise, whichever is found to be more suitable. In a world of fast development technology and increased fire hazard as a result of e.g. global warming and climatic changes, it is also important that the fire-related training strategy must be adjusted from time to time to meet these new challenges.
8.3.2 Training Requirements
Formal training institutions will still form the basis of training provided in fire management and fire ecology, but where specific demands have developed in a changed fire-related environment, special “bridging courses” might have to be provided to fill knowledge gaps. Certain developing countries might have to consider sending key fire manager and ecologists to other countries for further specialized training.
It is important that regular attention is given to all levels of fire management training, such as training of ground fire fighting crews, fire bosses and fire managers.
