Mapping of forest fire hazard depending on weather conditions using geoinformation technologies

An important component of forest firefighting strategies is related to the accurate prediction of fire risks. This article describes the development process of special decision support system (ForestFire GIS) - for the analysis of climatic conditions and definition of fire risks in Belarus including radioactively contaminated territory. The application consists of two basic modules: fire danger rating module and module of radionuclides transfer during the fire event. Fire danger rating module uses data on daily temperature, dew point and 24-hour rainfall to calculate weather based fire hazard index (FHI). The program provides recommendations for firefighting officials about efficient wildfires suppression strategy. GIS core (based on the MapWinGIS) performs all basic operations with map layers (scaling, moving, geocoding etc.), load and save changes. The ForestFire GIS was tested for the beginning of fire seasons in Gomel region in Belarus.

Optimum Sensors Allocation for a Forest Fires Monitoring System

Every year forest fires destroy millions of hectares of land worldwide. Detecting forest fire ignition in the early stages is fundamental to avoid forest fires catastrophes. In this approach, Wireless Sensor Network is explored to develop a monitoring system to send alert to authorities when a fire ignition is detected. The study of sensors allocation is essential in this type of monitoring system since its performance is directly related to the position of the sensors, which also defines the coverage region. In this paper, a mathematical model is proposed to solve the sensor allocation problem. This model considers the sensor coverage limitation, the distance, and the forest density interference in the sensor reach. A Genetic Algorithm is implemented to solve the optimisation model and minimise the forest fire hazard. The results obtained are promising since the algorithm could allocate the sensor avoiding overlaps and minimising the total fire hazard value for both regions considered.

Estimating spatiotemporal dynamics of forest fire hazard using Analytical Hierarchy Process and geostatistical methods in Similipal Biosphere Reserve, India

<p>Anthropogenic factors and climate change induced severe forest fires that are reoccurring globally. Because of the large spatial scale, frequent occurrence, and danger involved with the forest fires, remote sensing-based approaches are best suited to study this phenomenon. However, there are few studies addressing the temporal effects of the various factors associated with the  forest fire. In this work, by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision support system and geostatistical methods namely Getis-Ord Gi* statstic and Mann Kendall trend test, we have developed a framework to understand the temporal dynamics of forest fire hazard and associated factors by demarcating the hotspots of forest fire using freely available datasets . The proposed framework has been applied on the Similipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR), Odisha, India. With an area of 5569 km<sup>2</sup>, the SBR is the sixth largest biosphere reserve in India, comprising of a national park, bird sancturary, tiger reserve, and elephant corridor. Due to its biodiversity and importance in terms of rich and endemic species of flora and fauna, SBR was brought into the umbrella of world network of biosphere reserve under the Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme of UNESCO in the year 2008. Although being a biosphere of international importance, the SBR annually experiences nearly 12 km<sup>2</sup> of fire damage.Through this work, the most significant clusters of forest fire hotspots have been demarcated. We have used factors related to topographical, climatic, and physical characteristics of forest to generate forest fire hazard index at annual scale for 28 years (1988 – 2018) using AHP method. The geostatistical methods were applied on the generated annual fire hazard index data to demarcate the zones of emerging hotspots of forest fire. The results indicate that temporally, the trend of forest fire hazard in buffer zone of the area (Similipal Sanctuary) is decreasing, whereas in core area (Similipal National Park), it is increasing and corelates with the temporal trend of vegetation density in the whole area. However, vegetation density and land surface temperature in the core area does not changes significantly with time. The emerging hotspot analysis shows that most of the region (32% of the total area) is exhibiting an oscillating behaviour with respect to the fire hazard over the studied time-period of 28 years, with more than 50% of the years showing increasing trends of fire hazard. A total of 186 km<sup>2 </sup>of the region is persistently a hotspot of fire hazard in studied time-period. Overall, 11% of the study area is either under persistent fire hazard or showing increasing trend of fire hazard. However, in the central part of the SNP, the fire hazard is decreasing with time. The same region also observes intense rain, and this could be a factor for the observed decrement in the fire hazard. The results can be used for mitigating the fire hazard of the SBR, alsothe proposed framework can be applied globally to any region with dense vegetation for fire hazard spatiotemporal assessments.</p>

PEMETAAN DAERAH RAWAN KEBAKARAN DI KECAMATAN JABIREN RAYA, KABUPATEN PULANG PISAU, KALIMANTAN TENGAH

The area of peatland in Indonesia is estimated at around 13.2 million hectares, which about 5.7 million hectares are found in Kalimantan. Peatlands have many functions such as for water conservation, reducing floods, supporting various kinds of biodiversity, and climate control. However, in 2015 there was a decline in the quality of peatlands, which was triggered by fires that scorched 583.833 hectares in Central Kalimantan. If the fires occur continuously, land degradation will increase and the peat ecosystem will be disturbed. Given these adverse effects, it is necessary to protect an area from fires early by providing a map of forest fire hazard by utilizing geographic information system using scoring and weighting methods. In the making of the map, a combination of natural factors and human factors that were considered as factors in the occurrence of fires were land cover, peat maturity, village centres, road and river networks as well as the central operational-area which later were analyzed with hotspot data. This research was conducted in one of the sub-districts that are considered to have a high level of vulnerability, which was in Jabiren Raya District, Pulang Pisau Regency, Central Kalimantan. The results showed that most of the study areas had a moderate level of vulnerability with the triggering factors of fire was land cover, peat maturity level, and road network.

Modernized Forest Fire Risk Assessment Model Based on the Case Study of three Portuguese Municipalities Frequently Affected by Forest Fires

The number of forest fires ignitions has decreased worldwide, thus observing increased levels of intensity and destruction, endangering urban areas and causing material damages and deaths (Portugal, 2017). Forest fire hazard mapping supported by the surveillance strategy targeted at very susceptible areas with high losses potential are the common tools of fire prevention. Each municipality creates its own Forest Fire Hazard Map, and so it is observed that along the administrative boundaries, discrepancies occur, even when identical types of land use are in place. The evolution of geographic information systems technology sustained by the open-source satellite imagery, along with the innovative Habitat Risk Assessment model of the InVEST software, allowed the creation of an easily applicable trans-administrative boundary fire hazard map, with frequent update capabilities and fully open source. This work considered three municipalities (Tomar, Ourém, and Ferreira do Zêzere) that annually observe various forest fire occurrences. Results enabled the creation of a homogeneous Forest Fire Risk Map, using landuse, slope, road access network, fire ignitions’ history, visualization basins, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as variables. All variables correlate with each other using different weights, in which the different classes of land use are considered as habitats and the remaining variables as fire hazard stressors. The results produce a coherent monthly updated Risk Map, which is an alternative to many risk assessment systems used worldwide.

FOREST FIRE RISK ZONING FOR THE VILA VELHA STATE PARK AND ITS SURROUNDINGS (PONTA GROSSA, PARANÁ)

Forest fire hazard and risk mapping is an essential tool for planning and decision making regarding the prevention and suppression of forest fires,as well as fire management in general, as it allows the spatial visualization of areas with higher and lower ignition probability. This study aimed to develop a forest fire risk zoning map for the Vila Velha State Park and its surroundings (Ponta Grossa, Paraná State, Brazil), for the period of higher incidence of forest fires (from April to September) and for the period of lower incidence (from October to March). The following risk and hazard variables were identified: human presence, usage zones, topographical features, soil coverage and land use and meteorological conditions. Coefficients (0 to 5) reflecting the fire risk or hazard degree were allocated to each variable in order to construct the maps. The integration of these maps, through a weighting model, resulted in the final risk mapping. The very high and extreme risk classes represented about 38% of the area for both periods. The forest fire risk mapping spatially represented the levels of fire risk in the area, allowing the managers to identify the priority sectors for preventive actions in both fire seasons.

Location Planning of Fire Service Fleet Based on Forest Fire Susceptibility

Forest fires constitute one of the greatest risks for certain ecosystems services. Hence, the location planning of firefighting units based on forest fire hazard is a key point for the immediate containment of fire incidents before they become uncontrollable. The primary aim of the paper is the estimation and finding of the required number and positions (i.e. the exact geographical locations and the respective type of installation – fire hydrant etc.) of fire fleet to fully cover (in terms of travel time) the districts of fire services in Chalkidiki (Greece), taking into account the scalable fire susceptibility. The proposed location plans revealed the fact that most of the regions may adequately respond to the fire vulnerability with the current forces, whereas a few regions clearly need a reinforcement in order to sufficiently cover their territories. A future perspective may be related with the exploration of best locations through the entire study area, merging the current administrative boundaries. One more asset of the project constitutes the flexibility and applicability of the sub-modules to other geographic regions after the necessary adjustments to local conditions.