Abstract
FOREST FIRE SUSCEPTIBILITY ANALYSIS USING GIS AND AHP: THE CASE OF ANTAKYA FORESTRY OPERATION DIRECTORATE
Turkey, which is located in the Mediterranean basin that is one of the prominent zones in the world in terms of forest fires, is one of the countries where forest fires are experienced very often due to both natural and socio-economic conditions. This natural disaster, which occurs due to negligence in particular, has caused considerable material losses in recent years. The purpose of this study was to make a forest fire susceptibility analysis within the coverage area of Antakya Forestry Operation Directorate. The analysis was made based on the factors influential on forest fire risk (elevation, slope, exposure, distance to settlement, distance to road lines, land use, vegetation cover) and the factors influential on fire-fighting (distance to water resources, distance to fire-fighting teams, distance to fire observation towers, the visibility of fire observation towers). The said factors were analyzed by means of GIS (geographic information systems) and AHP (analytic hierarchy process). The hypothesis of the study was as follows: “Geographic parameters play an important role in the distribution of forestry fire susceptibility.” The present study was methodologically significant in that it highlighted the use of GIS for determining the areas susceptible to fire. In the end, it was determined that the study area was dominated by medium susceptibility areas, and the study area contained a medium forest fire potential. The forest fire susceptibility was seen mostly in the northern part of the Amanos Mountains, the northwestern part of Antakya, Kuseyr Plateau and around Reyhanlı. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that GIS could be used as an instrument helping to make effective decisions concerning forest fire planning.
Keywords
Forestry, forest fires, GIS, AHP, Antakya forestry operation directorate.
