The impact of dynamic traffic conditions on the sustainability of urban fire service

Abstract

Frequent fires pose a significant threat to the safety and sustainability of society. The urban fire service is critical for protecting against fire hazards. Traffic congestion increases the response time of fire service seriously, and dynamic traffic conditions can affect the sustainability of urban fire service. In this study, to evaluate the impact of dynamic traffic conditions on fire service comprehensively, we proposed a method for estimating the total effective coverage area of fire service (TECA) based on real-time traffic data extracted from online maps. To validate the proposed method, a fire station (FS-HN) in Hunan Province, China was selected as the study case. In total, 6625 POIs around FS-HN were characterized as the fire service demand points, and 336 estimating scenarios throughout a week were set. By analyzing the extracted 2,226,000 groups of sample data, TECA for FS-HN was estimated as 7.63 km2 with the assumption that the average travel time of fire trucks is 80% of that of ordinary vehicles. Visual results show that traffic congestion and the lack of transportation infrastructure (only one bridge over a river near FS-HN) seriously reduce the service coverage of FS-HN. To improve fire service, it is necessary to improve traffic conditions and build more transportation infrastructures.