A hybrid soft computing approach producing robust forest fire risk indices

Abstract

Forest fires are one of the major natural disaster problems of the Mediterranean countries. Their prevention - effective fighting and especially the local prediction of the forest fire risk, requires the rational determination of the related factors and the development of a flexible system incorporating an intelligent inference mechanism. This is an enduring goal of the scientific community. This paper proposes an Intelligent Soft Computing Multivariable Analysis system (ISOCOMA) to determine effective wild fire risk indices. More specifically it involves a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang rule based fuzzy inference approach, that produces partial risk indices (PRI) per factor and per subject category. These PRI are unified by employing fuzzy conjunction T-Norms in order to develop pairs of risk indices (PARI). Through Chi Squared hypothesis testing, plus classification of the PARI and forest fire burned areas (in three classes) it was determined which PARI are closely related to the actual burned areas. Actually we have managed to determine which pairs of risk indices are able to determine the actual burned area for each case under study. Wild fire data related to specific features of each area in Greece were considered. The Soft computing approach proposed herein, was applied for the cases of Chania, and Ilia areas in Southern Greece and for Kefalonia island in the Ionian Sea, for the temporal period 1984–2004.