Abstract
Fire Service is the fundamental civic service to protect citizens from irrecoverable, heavy losses of lives and property. Hotspot analysis of structure fires is essential to estimate people and property at risk. Hotspot analysis for the peak period of last decade, using a GIS-based spatial analyst and statistical techniques through the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) and Getis-Ord Gi* with Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation is performed, revealing fire risk zones at the city ward micro level. Using remote sensing, outputs of hotspot analysis are integrated with the built environment of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) to quantify the accurate built-up areas and population density of identified fire risk zones. KDE delineates 34 wards as hotspots, while Getis-Ord Gi* delineates 17 wards within the KDE hotspot, the central core areas having the highest built-up and population density. A temporal analysis reveals the maximum fires on Thursday during the hot afternoon hours from 12 noon to 5 p.m. The study outputs help decision makers for effective fire prevention and protection by deploying immediate resource allocations and proactive planning reassuring sustainable urban development. Furthermore, updating the requirement of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to build urban resilient infrastructure in accord with the Smart City Mission.
Highlights
Structure fires are the fires involving the structural components of various types of residential, commercial, educational, or industrial buildings
The ranking of population density reveals the very high fire risk zone with a maximum population under threat on the least percentage area, while the high fire risk zone has the lowest population density covering the maximum of 54% of the city area with a maximum of 33% of population size, spreading majorly towards the fringe area of the city with low rise development the highest value comprising 9% of the total area and with the highest population density located in the central core and extending towards the northern part of the city with high rise development
The hotspot analysis delineates the areas with the highest vulnerability, along with other significant fire risk areas and revealing the random distribution of fire events, alerting urban planners to the need for the provision of appropriate fire services as fire incidences are unplanned events resulting in irrecoverable heavy losses
Summary
Structure fires are the fires involving the structural components of various types of residential, commercial, educational, or industrial buildings. Structure fires have substantial consequences adversely affecting urban sustainable development threatening life safety, property protection, continuity of operations, environmental protection, and heritage conservation. The National Crime Records Bureau 2019 data of India has accounted for a total of 11,037 accidental fires, with 69% of these fires being in the structures of schools or commercial, residential, and governmental buildings, and a total of 10,915 deaths, with 62% in structure fires, and a total of 441 persons injured, with 78% in structure fires [3]. It is evident that structure fires have an adverse impact on the sustainability of an urban built environment, affecting and disrupting the urban functionality with heavy losses of property and lives [4]. The fire incidence pattern of the urban agglomeration is to be assessed delineating the hotspot area along with statistically significant fire risk areas for effective and efficient mitigation [5]
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