Forest Fire Detection Systems Design

Empirical data would suggest that forestry managers have been hesitant in their adoption of a management sciences approach to their problems of prevention, detection and suppression of forest fires. A joint program of research has been undertaken between the Alberta Forest Service and the Faculty of Business Administration and Commerce at the University of Alberta in an attempt to develop, test and evaluate state-of-the-art management science approaches to the problems of forest management. This paper outlines the program of research being undertaken and describes a simulation model which has been developed as part of the research program. The model, which can be readily adapted for analysis of any forest, has been used to examine various fire detection strategies for the Footner Forest in Northern Alberta. The results from this examination are presented along with the results from the goodness-of-fit tests used to validate the model. The model is presently being used and evaluated by forestry personnel.