Public expenses with vehicles and aircraft used to fight forest fire in the Sooretama Biological Reserve

Abstract

Forest fires are considered one of the biggest environmental issues in the world as they seriously affect the sustainable development. In the public sector, prevention and fight of forest fires has become a challenge for the managers who need to deal, among other issues, with the lack of resources and targeted public policies. The objective of this work was to calculate the operational expenses of vehicles and aircraft of the public sector used in the fight against a large forest fire in the Sooretama Biological Reserve, state of Espírito Santo, using ex post facto data, in the preparation of mathematical equations. The results refer to fuel, maintenance and insurance expenses. Also, it is not possible to calculate expenses with tires, lubricants and greases due to lack of official data. The results showed the use of 36 light vehicles, 27 heavy vehicles and three military aircrafts, in addition to the rental of 19 supporting vehicles. It was concluded that the largest expenditure was from State institutions that accounted for 72% of total costs with aircraft maintenance and 50% of total expenditure with jet fuel (kerosene). On a daily average, around 180 hectares were burned in the limits and surroundings of the Reserve, which required an average daily operating expense of R$ 17,595.23 and a monthly depreciation of R$ 64,264.47. It was also found that these expenses were not higher due to the significant contributions of private companies.

Keywords:
Forest protection; Fire prevention; Public expenditures