Service area determination of fire stations in an urban setting through a GIS-based multi-criteria analysis: the case of Quezon City, Philippines

Abstract

The continuous rise of population and expansion in urban cities results in a higher demand for fire services making the determination of their service areas critical in emergency planning. This study aims to determine the service areas of the existing fire stations in Quezon City, Philippines through the use of a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) integrated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The factors considered for the study are high population density (HPD), density of hazardous material facilities (DHM), distance to existing fire stations (DEF), and proximity to main roads (PMR) with associated AHP weights of 27.9%, 26.51%, 23.62% and 21.97% respectively based on the fire professionals involved in the emergency planning services. Results show that currently, 63.24% is covered by the existing fire stations. Based on the existing service areas and the gaps identified in the analysis, new stations were suggested to improve the coverage to 88.31%.