Rural Fire Risk Assessment in GIS Environment Using Fuzzy Logic and the AHP Approaches

Abstract

Fires all around the world have caused irreparable environmental and economic losses due to the increase in global warming. Risk assessments are curial for taking measures to keep negative effects of natural hazards to a minimum and to ensure sustainability of the nature. In this regard, the aim of this study is to evaluate rural area fire risk in the seven geographical regions of Turkey. Since fire sensitive areas in rural regions are generally composed of forest areas, data on the size of forest areas, number of forest fires and temperatures are the main starting points of this study. Analysis was carried out using the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Logic approaches. In this study the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Logic approaches were integrated with the Geographical Information Systems. The results obtained from the AHP and Fuzzy Logic approaches were compared and evaluated. The results of the study show that the Aegean, Mediterranean and Marmara regions have the highest rural area fire risk levels. The fire risk assessments results obtained by the AHP and Fuzzy Logic approaches overlap on the basis of geographical regions. Integrating the AHP and Fuzzy Logic with GIS for rural area fire risk assessment provide valid, reliable and very important results in making the necessary planning and ensuring sustainability of the environment.