Forest fire prevention: a GIS tool for fire-fighting planning and management.

ABSTRACT: For the organization of efficient and effective firefighting activities an understanding of the potential ignition risk level and the allocation of the means in a territory is needed. The IBIMET, Institute of the National Research Council and the DISTAF, Department of Environmental Science and Technology in Forestry of the University of Florence, has been charged by the Tuscany Region administration to develop a methodology which analyses the variables that influence the probability of a forest fire occurrence, and classify the structures for the fighting activities, starting from the historical and present data, collected by the region itself, with an ability to update this territorial information archives. The final result has been the development of two different indices : the GRI (Global Risk Index) and the ODIF (Operational Difficulty Index in Fire Fighting). The Global Risk Index is developed by processing different parameters, such as meteorological data, DTM (digital terrain model), vegetation inventory, road network, urban areas and the ignition points. The analysis of these parameters, generates two sub indices: a Static Hazard and a Dynamic Hazard, that are mathematically merged to obtain the GRI. The Operational Difficulty Index in Fire Fighting includs all the factors affecting fire fighting activities by air and by ground (shapes of the different infrastructures are used: public and forest roads, fire fighting centres, helicopter bases, water sources, administrative boundaries etc.) and suggests the extinction efficiency of forest fires organization in a given area. These indices are then combined in a numerical matrix that generate the Final Risk Index. To better met the requirements of the region, the model has been developed in raster format which can be superimposed on different scales of topographic maps. The indices are still in an experimental phase. They were tested in some restricted area of Tuscany but will be fully operational by the end of the year 2008. The specific importance of this work is that all the analysis and classification performed are based on an input dataset from the standard archives of a public administration, the Tuscany Region in this case. As a result the program represents an "easy to use" GIS tool which can help to better understand fire behaviour and to plan a prevention activity.