Due to the amount of variables and range of effects, predicting the true cost of an individual wildfire is equally as difficult. Lack of tracked and available of data and the case-specific nature of each wildfire provides many challenges in overall cost estimation. However, a report including six wildfire case studies from the western United States by the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition estimated the true cost of a wildfire as compared to the suppression cost. These ratios of total cost to suppression cost from the study have been applied to tracked suppression costs of the larger wildfires (fires affecting more than 40,000 acres) in New Mexico over the last four years to develop a range of possible costs of these wildfires.
Read the full report: The Full Cost of New Mexico Wildfires