FireAnalyst: An effective system for detecting fire geolocation and fire behavior in forests using mathematical modeling

Abstract

This study proposes an effective new fire detection method and monitoring software for an early-warning fire detection systemaimed at valuable forested areas, such as botanical parks or high conservation value forests, particularly those with boundaries. Thesecritical forested areas need to be appropriately managed because they contain large concentrations of biological diversity, includingthreatened or endangered species, which are very susceptible to fire outbreaks; thus, early detection of fire and rapid response have avery important place in the fight against fire in those areas. In this proposed system, special detectors with state-of-the-art multispectralinfrared technology and mathematical modeling algorithms have been utilized to create a smart fire detection system that can detectfires at a very early stage. The geolocation and behavior of emerging fires in a forest are also estimated with maximum spatial resolutionby superimposing the detection areas of multispectral infrared detectors. In this study, candidate fire regions are examined for feasibilityfirst. Next, the most suitable fire detector type is determined and used for expanding the fire control area, to have the highest positionalaccuracy in estimating the location of an emerged fire. Thereafter, mathematical models for the positioning of the detectors are createdto have high spatial resolution in detecting the coordinates of forest fires by using the libraries of Google Maps APIs in the cloud. Thegeolocation of the fire and behavior of the fire inside the model are then simulated visually on the map portal, thanks to an extraordinarystandalone software program called FireAnalyst. The proposed system was implemented for the Faruk Yalçın Zoo and Botanical Parkin Darıca, Turkey. Experimental results have indicated that monitoring fires with FireAnalyst using selected multispectral infrareddetectors positioned toward the center geometry outperformed other fire monitoring systems, providing a significantly shortened firedetection timeframe and high spatial resolution (up to 4.5 m) in detecting the geolocation of a fire in a minimum of ~3599.56 m2forested area, and it adds functionality, such as real-time fire behavior analysis (spreading speed of fire, spreading direction).