| Summary: Forest fire management organizations require accurate, timely and readily available information to be successful in forest fire suppression. To acquire and make this information available to fire management organization, a sound decision support system is necessary.
In this study, the framework, hierarchy, parameters and model forms of a decision support system (DSS) was designed and a prototype software was developed that have potential to be implemented operationally. DSS consists of four subsystems which can operate individually or collectively. These are namely, Fire Information System (FIS), Fire Occurrence Prediction System (FOP), Fire Weather Index System (FWI) and Fire Behavior Prediction System (FBP). The FIS was designed such that fire managers are able to input, store, update and manage data easily. FOP system was developed based on fire risk factors that are thought to have a role in fire ignition. Fire risk and danger maps as well as other information was developed in tabular forms. The FWI system calculates the ignition potential of fuels and provides information about potential rate of spread and fire intensity. FBP system predicts fire behavior under varying weather, fuel and topographic conditions.
When ready for operational use, the Turkish National Forest Fire Danger Rating Decision Support System (TOYTOS) will have the potential to provide fire managers with tools and support necessary for successful fire prevention/presuppression, suppression and post fire management planning.
Keywords: Forest fires, Fire risk, Fire danger, Fire behavior |
