Exploring spatiotemporal dynamics of urban fires: A case of Nanjing, China

Abstract

Urban fire occurs within the built environment, usually involving casualties and economic losses, and affects individuals and socioeconomic activities in the surrounding neighborhoods. A good understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of fire incidents can offer insights into potential determinants of various fire events, therefore enabling better fire risk estimation which can assist with future allocation of prevention resources and strategic planning of mitigation programs. Using a twelve-year (2002-2013) dataset containing the urban fire events in Nanjing, China, this research explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban fires using a range of exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) approaches. Of particular interest here are the fire incidents involving residential properties and local facilities due to their relatively higher occurrence frequencies. The results indicate that the overall amount of urban fires has greatly increased in the last decade and the spatiotemporal distribution of fire events varies among different incident types. The identified spatiotemporal patterns of urban fires in Nanjing can be linked to the urban development strategies and how they have been reflected in reality in recent years.