Optimization of Fire Station Locations to Increase the Efficiency of Firefighting in Natural Ecosystems

Abstract

Wild fires have a catastrophic impact on the environment and lead to people’s deaths. Such fires are relevant in the global context. Many countries declare some of their territories an ecological disaster zone during fires in natural ecosystems (USA, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, Australia). Fires in ecosystems occurred in southern Ukraine in 2007 and in the eastern part of Ukraine in 2021, which destroyed large tracts of pine, as well as homes, buildings and caused human casualties. In the given research, much attention is paid to fire-prevention measures in natural ecosystems. It is proposed to optimize fire stations in the territory of Male Polissya (Ukraine), where frequent grass fires and grassland forest fires occur, since existing fire stations are not able to respond to all fires in the region in a timely manner due to the lack of forces and resources. Optimization of fire station locations was carried out using Voronoi diagrams. This research has a practical aspect, ensuring the protection of human health and life by preventing destructive fires in natural ecosystems through the creation of local safety facilities. On the example of 3 administrative districts of Lviv Oblast in Ukraine, it was established that in order to respond quickly to fires in ecosystems, it is necessary to create 20 additional fire stations, which has been determined by the 20-minute drive method approved by the state authorities. The algorithm proposed in this work can be applied to rural areas in other administrative units, both in Ukraine and other countries. The next step in the development of this technique is to determine the required amount of equipment and human resources for firefighting in ecosystems taking into account the projected dynamics of fires and the time required for the delivery of fire extinguishers to epicenters of these events.