Application of an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the GIS interface for suitable fire site selection: A case study from Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nepal

Abstract

Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the capital city of Nepal, is prone to different types of disasters. Fire disaster is one of the most recurring in the city. Due to haphazard urbanization, poor fire services, few and old fire engines, insufficient skilled human resources combined with narrow road lanes, clustered households increase the fire vulnerability in Kathmandu Metropolitan City. This paper documents the fire station suitability zonation mapping in Kathmandu Metropolitan City using Group Decision Making Process (GDMP) in the GIS interface. Four different selection criteria factors such as distance from roads, land cover, distance from rivers and population density are considered for analysis and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used for Group Decision Making Process (GDMP). The results reveal that only 13.46% of the study area is highly suitable for fire station location. Hence, the fire station suitability zonation map is trustworthy and can be used for the construction of new fire stations in Kathmandu Metropolitan City.