You have 10 headquarters where you can have different number of fire fighters with different modes of travel.

 

You want to understand:

1. What locations can be reached from each headquarter prior to any allocation of the various resources
2. The impact of different modes of travel for the firefighters on the locations that can be reached
3. .How long it will take to reach each location
4. .Which headquarter can best serve each location

 

Gain some insight to your headquarters:

• Headquarters locations
• Resource allocation at the headquarters

To analyze what locations the firefighters can reach and how fast they can reach them, the surface they are moving across must be defined. This surface is a cost surface.

In our case, in the cost surface, every location (or cell) identifies how long it will take the firefighters to travel through it based on the characteristics of the location, for example, the slope and land-use type.

 

You can create the cost surface the same way you create a suitability model; first, the factors and criteria influencing the movement of the firefighters is identified. Like with the suitability model, each criteria value is put on a common preference scale, in this case based on the difficulty of movement. We will use a 1 to 10 scale. Unlike the suitability model where the higher the value the greater the preference, in a cost model, the lower values are less costly therefore they are more preferred since they are easier to travel through.

 

In this cost model there are two factors influencing movement; effort and safety. Each factor is represented by a submodel. Land use and slope are the two criteria affecting effort and distance from roads and distance from streams are the criteria affecting safety. Examine the cost model:

 

Explore the cost surface which is displayed in the Map. The lower the values (the brighter the green) are locations that are easier to travel through. Examine the input criteria by clicking around on the surface and clicking through the popups.

 

Understand the model base criteria as well as how these criteria are transformed onto the 1 to 10 movement preference scale:

 

Land Use

.....Original map

.....Transformed (1 to 10 scale - based on category)

Slope

.....Original map

.....Transformed (1 to 10 - lower slopes far more costly)

Distance from Roads

.....Original map

.....Transformed (1 to 10 scale - closer distances far more safe)

Distance from Streams

.....Original map

.....Transformed (1 to 10 scale - closer distances far more safe)

 

 

Understanding the relative cost of movement it will take to reach each location and which is the least costly headquarter to reach the location given the same number of firefighters traveling by the same model of travel from each headquarter will provide you an overview to your fire fighting efforts.  

 

From this overview analysis you can appropriately allocate your limited resources to the appropriate headquarters.

 

Explore what locations can be reached from each headquarter and the relative cost to reach it.

 

Without considering the mode of travel and the number of firefighters at each headquarters, which headquarters can reach each location with the least-cost effort was determined and is displayed in the Map.

 

Explore the relative cost to reach each location:

 

• Relative cost to reach each location

 

How you are traveling across the landscape can determine how fast you can overcome the costs. A firefighter on an ATV can cover more ground (overcome cost at a faster rate) than a firefighter on foot. More firefighters at a headquarter can cover more area than fewer firefighters.

 

The mode of travel can be captured by applying weights to multiply the cost values in the cost surface. Different weights can be applied to each headquarters depending on the resources at the headquarters through a table.

 

 

Explore what locations can be reached from each headquarter and how long it will take if you allocate different resources at different headquarters.

 

With the same resources at each location:

• Time to reach each location
• The headquarter that can reach each location the fastest

Exploring different allocation of resources - the mode of travel and the number of firefighters:

• Time to reach each location
• The headquarter that can reach each location the fastest

You have now established what resources are to be deployed at each headquarters.

 

Using the Cost Connectivity tool you can identify the best network of paths on which to move resources between the headquarters over the cost surface.

 

 

Explore the cost surface and the resulting network of paths between the headquarters:

• Cost Surface
• Optimum network

During fire season, using the Network Analyst extension, you can explore how to move resources over the network as the landscape dynamically changes with the break out of fires.

 

You need to move resources from headquarters 7 to headquarters 9. However, we must pass through headquarters 8 to gather additional resources.

 

Gain insight into your problem and explore some scenarios:

• Cost Surface
• Optimum network
• Optimum route from headquarters 7 to 9 through 8
• Optimum route from headquarters 7 to 9 through 8 but fire breaks out

Thus far, you have been exploring the potential of the fixed resources at each headquarters. That is, the number of fire fighters and the mode of travel.

 

However, certain renewable resources allocated at each headquarters can limit the areas reached from each headquarters before they need to be replenished. These renewable resources include:

• Fuel for the vehicles
• Fire extinguishers
• Water

 

In the Map, the locations that each headquarters can reach given the fixed resources with unlimited renewable resources is displayed.

 

Explore locations that can be accessed given the current limited resources:

• Capacity for each headquarters (least accumulative cost)
• Cost Surface
• Area each headquarter can service
• Time from each location (hours)

Cost distance analysis allows for the analysis of how travelers move across the landscape. Given limited resources, you were able to gain a better understanding the effectiveness of your firefighting capabilities. You were able to:

1. Determine how long it would take fire fighters reach each location
2. Which headquarters could reach each location the fastest
3. Identify the optimum network of paths on which to move resources between headquarters
4. Determine the best routes to take to move resources in a dynamically changing landscape

Through this insight, you were able to determine if you currently have adequate resources to fight fires in your area,, if the resources are optimally distributed, and how to move the resources between your headquarters to adapt to the changing conditions.

 

 

For additional information on cost distance analysis see:

Cost distance analysis use case (to be filled in)

 

For additional information on suitability modeling see:

Suitability modeling use case (to be filled in)

 

 

Acknowledgements:

We thank Steven Lamonde of Johnson State College his contributions and the USGS for the base data that was used.