THE damage bill from the Tasmanian bushfires is still being calculated, but the state government vowed yesterday to find the dollars needed within its tight budget.
The bushfires that continue to burn in parts of the state have destroyed at least 128 buildings and burnt more than 120,000 hectares.
As of yesterday, 410 insurance claims had been made and losses were estimated at $42 million.
Insurance companies have declared areas on the Tasman Peninsula, Bicheno and Lake Repulse as catastrophe zones.
Premier Lara Giddings said additional costs for the state Treasury as a result of the fires would be unavoidable.
"When you have a crisis of this nature, you must get in there and deal with it with the resources that are required, and that's exactly what is happening," Ms Giddings said.
"We will need time, of course, to tally up what those costs are ... but they are costs that we must and will spend in order to do what's needed and required by communities in crisis."
Last month the government slid a further $44 million into debt. The Premier and Treasurer had hoped to deliver a surplus by 2014-15 and it is unclear whether this goal must be revised.
Among the state assets lost in the fire was most of Dunalley Primary School.