Method for Determining the Optimal Location of Firefighting Equipment for Localization of Ground Forest Fires

Abstract

Localization and forest fire suppression is an urgent problem for the whole world. Given the heterogeneity of forests on the planet, approaches to modeling the spread of fires and their extinguishing are different. In this article a method for determining the required number of forces and means for the localization of ground forest fires is offered, taking into account the location of firefighting equipment in forests. To forecast the spread of fire, equidistant places from the fire departments in forests were chosen using Voronoi diagrams. The results of the calculation make it possible to conclude whether there are enough available forces and means to localize the predicted fire and to suggest additional firefighting equipment locations. The use of Voronoi diagrams for the State Enterprise "Zhovkva Forestry" in the Lviv region showed 12 dangerous areas, which are located the furthest from the fire departments. The method for determining the optimal location of firefighting equipment was applied to the Butynskyi forestry in Zhovkva forestry enterprise. Reducing the time of free spread of ground forest fires by 25% using rational placement of firefighting equipment and machinery, allows to reduce the number of employees for its localization by 53.8%.