Search

In the densely populated Kathmandu Metropolitan City, inadequate fire service coverage poses a significant fire risk. With the demand for fire services increasing due to rapid growth in population and infrastructure development, the limited number of fire stations, insufficient human and physical resources, poor street connectivity, narrow streets, and delays in response to calls for emergency services have resulted in significant property loss, environmental impact, serious injuries, and even loss of life. Although a substantial body of research exists on understanding fire patterns and fire station site selection in developed countries, there is a noticeable lack of similar research in developing countries, which can be attributed to a lack of available data and interest. This study utilises ward-level urban fire incident data in Kathmandu from July 2019 to February 2023 to examine the spatial pattern of fire risk, fire service coverage and identify potential sites for fire stations. Results reveal a significantly higher fire rate in the central part of the city. Fire rescue service cannot reach most areas in Kathmandu within 5 min, with some areas exceeding 10 min response time. The findings from this study will enable fire agencies to enhance the operational efficiency of emergency response and help develop policies and programs related to fire risk prevention and mitigation. This includes targeted education and awareness campaigns and the allocation of finite fire service resources, such as the strategic placement of fire stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was undertaken to assess the province of Marinduque's fire incidence from 2018 to 2022 and determine its firefighting capability, which includes fire prevention programs, tools, PPEs and Equipment (fire trucks), manpower, skills and trainings acquired, facilities and infrastructure and financial resources management. Present the level of performance in implementing fire prevention programs, and to know if there is a significant relationship of firefighting capabilities and performance of BFP-Marinduque Personnel. To identify the gaps in the implementation of fire prevention programs as well as the problems encountered and strategies employed by the personnel and management of the Bureau of Fire Protection in the province of Marinduque from 2018 to 2022. Further, to propose a framework of service delivery for fire prevention based from the results of this study that could be helpful in the future researches. The descriptive research method was used in this study. The documentation records obtained from the Bureau of Fire Protection Provincial Office in Tampus, Boac, Marinduque, and the province's six Municipal Fire Stations, as well as the survey questionnaires administered in each station and the provincial office, are the sources of data. The information was tallied, analyzed and interpreted. The statistical tools that were utilized to treat and interpret the data required for the study are frequency count, percentage calculations, ranking, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Fire Incidence in the Province of Marinduque reveals a total of 58 fire events. The municipalities of Boac, Buenavista, Gasan, Santa Cruz, and Torrijos have similar fire causes, except for Mogpog, which has open flames or unsupervised cooking as the leading cause of fires in this area. The capability of the Marinduque Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in terms of tools, personal protective equipment, and the number of firetrucks indicates a varied landscape of readiness throughout towns, with an overall capability of 74.49% and a verbal description of "adequate." In terms of manpower, the total capability of the BFP in Marinduque is assessed as "adequate" at 62.06%. In terms of firefighting capability in terms of acquired skills and trainings. BFP staff possess a broad range of skills that can be categorized into three: hard skills, professional skills, and specialized skills. The firefighting capability in terms of adequacy and sufficiency of facilities and infrastructures yields a total mean for adequacy of 3.25, implying that these facilities, on average, provide what is necessary but with room for improvement. The total sufficiency mean is 3.06. BFP Marinduque has maintained a consistent budget utilization rate of 100% for the last five fiscal years. The mean performance ratings for various Fire Prevention activities range from 4.08 to 4.69, indicating that the BFP's performance is either "Very Satisfactory" or "Outstanding". There is a significant relationship of firefighting capabilities to the performance of BFP-Marinduque therefore null hypothesis is rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continual acceleration of urbanization, the amount of urban infrastructure and the quality of public services are increasing in many cities. A pressing concern in this context is the growing problem of incompatible fire protection construction, indicating a need for urban fire stations with well-planned layouts. However, research on optimizing the layout and placement of fire stations by considering the various factors affecting station layouts is lacking. The current study addressed this gap by establishing an optimal fire station layout by using a geographic information system (GIS) and elucidated the trends of GIS application in firefighting and rescue operations. The study's findings reveal the benefits of avoiding blind spots, enhancing the selection of fire station sites, and optimizing service coverage. Furthermore, this study optimized the layout of CZ city's downtown fire stations, which could enhance CZ city's firefighting capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to strengthen urban rescue capabilities, a new method is proposed to optimize the spatial distribution of fire stations in urban areas. Potential fire risk places are simplified into points of interest (POIs). Based on the Minimize Facilities Method and Maximize Coverage Algorithm, the number and location of fire stations are determined. In addition, the POIs assigned to the stations are also determined. Moreover, the service area of the fire station is identified according to topological convex hull theory. After that, the coverage rate of the POIs and the sensitivity of the accessible area to the driving time are discussed. At last, Zhongyuan District of Zhengzhou City is taken as an example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results reveal that current fire stations are insufficient for protecting fire safety. It is necessary to construct three new stations, which will significantly enhance firefighting capabilities. Thus, the areas capable of being timely reached by fire forces in 4.3 min reach 108.8 km2, covering more than 50% of the target district. About 94 percent of the area composed of the target district can be reached in 10 min. Good accessibility indicates the proposed method is capable of optimizing the location of the urban fire station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, fires occurred frequently in hospitals managing COVID-19, and caused over 279 deaths. Fire safety in hospitals should be identified clearly and taken seriously. Fire probability and fire service coverage for hospitals from a national perspective in China were analyzed in this study. Calculated with the generalized Barrois model, the annual fire frequency of hospital building exceeds 0.5, when its floor area reaches approximately 180,000 m2. Based on the number of hospital fires in Changsha and that of hospitals in China from 2014 to 2017, the average annual fire probability of a hospital in China was calculated to be 0.017. The total effective coverage rate (TECR) of fire service for hospitals in Changsha, China was estimated to be between 11.82 % and 25.74 %, based on real-time travel times extracted from the Baidu Map. The TECR of national fire service for hospitals was estimated to be between 14.18 % and 30.89 %, according to the ratio of the number of hospitals and the number of fire stations in China to that in Changsha. Currently, recruiting medical staff as fire volunteers can quickly improve fire safety in hospitals for a low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Research on the fire space design of historical streets from different perspectives. • A new method of road accessibility evaluation based on sDNA was proposed. • A quantitative and universal method was developed that can applied to a broad range. Historical streets are greatly threatened by fires. However, current studies are qualitative and case specific, which makes their results impractical to apply in engineering. In this paper, a more quantitative and universal approach that focuses on the spatial forms of historical streets and fire protection design in historic districts is proposed. Notably, a holistic solution for renovation is proposed. The accessibility of the surrounding sections of an old town in China is assessed based on spatial design network analysis (sDNA), and the fire risk of buildings is determined with point of interest (POI) data. Areas with poor accessibility and high fire risk are identified. The areas recommended for demolition are selected by comparing the protection plans for areas with recent satellite maps. A plan that includes key fire protection areas, road network designs and micro fire stations is derived. Multisource data are used to examine possibilities for the spatial design of fire protection along historical streets from a spatial perspective. Then, this approach is validated to verify its feasibility. The validation results indicate that the sum, mean and standard deviation values of the closeness and betweenness of the renovated roads are significantly improved. The solution proposed in this paper enhances the fire safety level of historical streets, which is of great significance for the safety and protection of old town areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two models predicting fire occurrences and casualties from accidents were developed. • Interestingly, the important variables for the two models differed. • For predicting fire accident occurrences, building-related factors are important. • For predicting casualties, street network and demographic factors are important. • Different interventions for preventing fire accidents and casualties are needed. This study developed two prediction models for urban fire occurrence and related casualties via a fire accident dataset from Seoul, South Korea, from 2017 to 2021. Our models exhibit improved predictive performance by incorporating built environment features, such as building characteristics and the urban context, alongside weather and demographic data. This approach showed improved predictive performance suitable for public health implementation. Compared with the weather- and demographic-only models, our models had an 18.1 % greater fire occurrence prediction accuracy and a 10.4 % greater casualty prediction accuracy. Major variables affecting fire occurrence include building characteristics, e.g., the floor area ratio (FAR), building age, and commercial building number. Important features affecting casualty occurrence include demographic aspects, e.g., income level and weather, and network-based features, e.g., road connectivity and fire station proximity. These findings suggest that fire prevention strategies and fire casualty prevention strategies may need to differ. Furthermore, we identify high-risk zones by conducting spatial analysis and fire risk and casualty prediction on all buildings by applying our models to Seoul's Gangnam District. These contributions can promote safe and healthy urban environments by improving fire risk prediction accuracy and providing important insights into urban planning for appropriate urban fire accident response and prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, fire alarm systems have become increasingly sophisticated and more capable and reliable. The two main objectives are the protection of life and property. As a result of state and local codes, fire protection has become more concerned with life safety over the past two decades. Several safety measures have been implemented to address the problems caused by the fires and reduce the number of fatalities and property damage. Our project is to develop and review a fire alarm navigation system and application that uses the internet of things. Fire alarm systems are designed to warn people about fires in advance so that they can evacuate the fire-affected area and take immediate action to control the fire. There will be a GPS module, a flame sensor, a smoke sensor, buzzers, LEDs, and a GSM module to ensure early notification to authorities and fire stations. The aim is to reduce the loss of lives and property. A questionnaire was designed to conduct a brief survey in a multinational sports production company in Sialkot, Pakistan, regarding the IoT fire alarm navigation system. Besides installing the system in the factory, we compare the results with fire incident response time with and without this system at rescue 1122 fire head station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subway transportation is one of the most prevalent urban transportation methods globally. Millions of people around the globe use this medium as their mode of transportation daily. However, subway stations may be highly prone to fire, smoke, or explosion accidents. The safety of people using subway stations demands a robust and practical framework to assess fire hazards and risks. This study provides a methodology to assess fire risk at a subway station. This study integrates fault tree analysis (FTA) and fuzzy analysis to conduct a comprehensive fire risk assessment. An integrated numerical model of fire temperature and fatality rate was developed using probit correlations for various fire exposure scenarios. The fire dynamics simulator (FDS) provides the probability distribution of casualties caused by fire. To demonstrate the operationalization of the model, Line 1 of the Harbin Metro, located in China, is used as a case study. Results show a probability of 42% of having fire risk in the subway station. Results reveal the highest fatality rate is 6.2% when evacuation time exceeds 200 s. The research helps us to understand the spread of smoke and temperature distribution due to a fire in a subway station. This study is helpful for fire protection engineers, safety managers, and local fire departments to develop a contingency plan to deal with fire in a subway station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Modern energy efficient homes in Canada are well‐sealed, having less air leakage and moisture propagation through the building envelope compared with older homes. From a fire safety perspective, it is unclear how this change influences the dynamics of house fires, including: heat release rate, flame spread, species production and smoke transport. Although previous studies have determined that better sealed structures tend to lead to ventilation‐limited fires, there is a dearth of research on this topic. Yet, it is important to understand the evolution of fires in energy efficient buildings to assess both physical and safety implications associated with this type of construction. This article presents results of species concentrations and smoke evolution during nine instrumented, large‐scale, ventilation‐limited and two‐storey residential furniture fire experiments. As the smoke layer descended, it impacted heat release rate of the fires. Oxygen concentrations on the main floor of the structure sequentially decreased to around 5%. Measurements of gas transport at the stairwell connecting the floors of the structure provided new information about how oxygen was drawn from different areas of the structure during growth of the fire. These results provide novel insight into the growth and impact of fires in modern energy efficient homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounted annually at the Ideal Home Exhibition, a series of fire safety displays produced by the London County Council (LCC) in 1958–63 crystallized some of the key contradictions of the postwar consensus. The paper explores how the displays negotiate, in aesthetic and affective terms, two dissonant sets of concerns: on the one hand, the Ideal Home Exhibition's celebration of homeownership and home-centred consumption; and, on the other, the LCC's 'high fire risk' inspection programme, which focused on areas of multiple occupancy housing during a period when house fires were growing at an alarming rate. A visual-cultural history of the LCC displays demonstrates their contradictory testimony to a neglected history of housing inequalities. That history, it will be argued, was inseparable from the Conservative government's so-called 'property owning democracy'. At the same time, the LCC displays reveal the frictions and resistances inherent in this same moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The site selection and layout planning of fire stations in cities is a key content of fire safety, and it provides an important support for the emergency rescue and fire control. However, the fire station construction and the division of their jurisdictions in most cities of China is random, lacking in scientificity and rationality. As the size of the city grows, fire hazards and fire loads increase continuously as well, which has brought great challenges to the fire emergency response and the safe operation of the cities. This paper adopts a multi-criterion decisionmaking method that is called the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and the Geographic Information System (GIS) to decide the reasonable locations of fire stations in a county in China. First, it obtained a candidate set of fire station locations based on GIS; then four main criteria of transit time, scale cost, social service and environmental geography were decided, and each criterion was subdivided into several sub-criteria to make the site selection more specific; after that, these criteria and sub-criteria were compared by the pairwise importance judgment matrices and the multi-objective fuzzy optimization, and at last, a comprehensive evaluation was conducted according to the suitability and importance of the alternative locations of the fire stations. The research results in this paper can assist policy makers in determining the most suitable locations and layout of fire stations in cities, so as to improve the overall fire control situation of the cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Multi-attribute fire safety evaluation of subway station. • Develop an integrated method of FANP – FGRA – Cloud model. • Incorporate interdependences and interactions among criteria. • Obtain the integrated priorities and fire safety levels of subway stations. • Use a case study to illustrate its application and rationality. With the rapid development of subway network, the fire safety of subway stations is becoming outstandingly important in the operation process. But there seem to be few studies developing quantitative models in the existing approaches. To this end, this study aims to develop a multi-attribute hybrid method by combining Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP), and Fuzzy Grey Relational Analysis (FGRA) with Cloud model to evaluate fire safety of them. This research comprehensively sorts out and identifies high-frequency hazard factors associated with fire accidents at stations from personal, equipment, environmental and management aspects, and simultaneously explores dependencies and interactions among them. Seven typical transfer stations of Changsha subway network in China are studied by using the proposed approach, and the results show that: (1) the fire safety order from the best to the worst determined is FBH (A2), SWGY (A7), CSRS (A6), YWZ (A1), HTL (A5), HJT (A4) and WYGC (A3); (2) through comparing the results obtained by the proposed method with that determined fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy sum weighted method, it is proved that the method developed in this study is reliable and effective; and (3) sensitivity analysis indicates that the ranking order of stations is influenced by the fluctuation of criterion and sub-criterion weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of public facilities and the improvement of the assistance system in China, fire control has made significant progress. However, the fire problem in city still stands out and presents a tendency from general fire to heavy fire. Focused on the problems in urban fire control, Fire Power Cloud Platform (FPCP) was established based on informatization means. Through the integration of fire station, key unit of fire control, infrastructures and other information, FPCP improves the pertinence, timeliness, and orderliness of emergency service. Application results show that after using the FPCP, the number of urban fire is greatly reduced, whereas the speed of response to fire is obviously elevated. Meanwhile, the hazard caused by the fire accident is significantly weakened. Then, the targets of optimizing fire power, accurate rescue and efficient disposal are achieved. This is of great significance for the control and prevention of urban fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the planning of fire station in Lanshan District, Linyi City, Shandong Province. It mainly aims at the deficiency of the fire protection planning in Lanshan district and the new problems brought by the rapid development of the city. The fire risk of city buildings in Lanshan District was identified and evaluated. On the basis of fire risk assessment, GIS technology was introduced to solve the problem of site selection of those new fire stations and layout of old fire stations. The research results suggest that 4 new fire stations should be added, which are close to the great fire risk places. Meanwhile, the new fire stations are also required to be close to the main roads of the city as far as possible. The paper provides some scientific basis and suggestion for the layout optimization of fire stations in Linyi City by the comprehensive utilization of various methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: One of the most essential public services in urban areas is fire protection and response. It also happens to be one of the most costly. As urban areas grow, develop and change, it is important to plan services accordingly, both in terms of safety as well as being fiscally responsible. This paper discusses strategic planning goals and objectives in fire protection and response, and details modeling approaches to support fire station siting. A case study examining a fire service system for a city in California is used to illustrate the importance of strategic planning and system re-evaluation when expanding services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The problem of predicting the rate of spread of a linear fire front in a fuel bed composed of one live and one dead fuel component in no-slope and no-wind conditions is addressed. Two linear models based on the mass fraction of each fuel component are proposed topredict the rate ofspread of a fire frontas afunction of the mass fraction of the dead or dry fuel component. Experimental results obtained with two different mixtures show that for each fuel mixture there is a threshold value of mass concentration of the dead fuel below which the fire front does not spread. The rate of spread results compare favourably with the proposed models. A composite fuel moisture content of the fuel bed is shown to be a good descriptor of the rate of spread of the mixture. An exponential model using composite fuel moisture content of the fuel bed is proposed to estimate the rate of spread of the mixture and a comparison is made with the concept of fuel curing that is used to characterise live fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory fire tests were performed in still air, for variable inclinations (10°, 15°) and fuel bed dimensions (1.28 x 2.50-3.0 x 4.6m[sup 2]), with homogeneous fuel beds of pine needles and pine wood excelsior. The fire ignition was made at a point, along a closed line with no fuel inside and along a straight edge of the fuel bed. The tests were recorded with an infrared camera and various techniques were developed to implement direct and indirect empirical methods of construction of the 'orientation function' of the fire in the given fuel bed and ambient conditions, showing how the rate of spread of a steady straight fire front depends on its orientation on the terrain. The direct method uses a set of straight fire fronts with various orientations whereas the indirect method uses essentially a point ignited fire front. Contrary to what is assumed in BehavePlus model, the orientation function is observed to depend significantly on the properties of the fuel bed. In all tests with closed fire fronts, the full steadiness required by the indirect method was not achieved (namely, at the head of the front), although, for slope angle of 10°, the corresponding errors induced on the orientation function were small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The current situation analysis of the fire safety that focuses on the fire fatalness and storage, and to discuss and research the some issues which related to the automatic warning system, installation of fire lane, sheltered tent, exotic fire and so on. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rescue stations are usually provided in very long railway tunnels. Those stations already constructed or under construction worldwide are reviewed and the basic pattern of smoke control during a rescue station fire is identified. A total of 54 model scale tests were carried out to investigate smoke control issues in rescue station fires. The effects of heat release rate, train obstruction, fire source location and ventilation condition on smoke control in the cross-passages of a rescue station were tested and analyzed. A critical smoke layer temperature near the fireproof door protecting the rescue station was investigated theoretically and experimentally and a simple equation for this temperature is obtained. A height of 2.2 m is proposed for the fireproof doors in cross-passages of rescue stations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fires and burns are the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury deaths in the United States. To address fires and fire deaths, the National Fire Data Center (NFDC) established the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) as a surveillance system for fires. Delaware implemented NFIRS as the Delaware Fire Incident Reporting System (DFIRS), and is currently capturing all fires reported in the system. The objectives of this study are to: 1) understand the implementation of DFIRS; 2) analyze data from DFIRS to describe fire incidents; and 3) inform other states' fire surveillance efforts. We interviewed Delaware State Fire Marshal's Office personnel to understand the implementation of DFIRS and analyzed DFIRS data from May 2003 to December 2004 to examine data completeness, and characteristics of fires, smoke alarms, and fire injuries and deaths. DFIRS captures 100% of Delaware fires reported to fire departments. Data completeness for the fields examined ranged from 33% to 100%. Fires in which smoke alarms alerted occupants were significantly less likely to result in injury or death than fires in which smoke alarms did not. DFIRS has the potential to serve as a valuable fire prevention and fire analysis tool. For DFIRS to reach its full potential as a surveillance system, increased attention to data completeness is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Grenfell Tower and Lakanal House fires in London in 2017 and 2009 highlighted how these devasting events mainly affected people from ethnic minorities. While many studies have explored the role of socio-demographic variables in residential fires, ethnicity or race have received only marginal research attention. To redress this imbalance, this paper specifically addresses rate and severity of residential fires in relation to ethnicity. To that end, the study conceptualises ethnicity in a novel way—not as an individual variable but from a community perspective, focusing on cultural norms and practices and how these relate to residential fire incidents. As well as data from the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and the National Census, the study draws on data collected in a representative survey of community structure and risk behaviour in Leicestershire. The findings reveal that trust and personal relationships are fundamental to information sharing within this community. This highly personal form of knowledge acquisition is not matched by the fire and rescue service's more anonymous information-driven approach. The findings highlight the need for a more person-centred approach to fire safety to ensure that interventions in more vulnerable neighbourhoods and communities can contribute more effectively to fire safety and reductions in the rate and severity of fires. • The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the distribution of residential fires in an ethnically diverse urban area. • Residential dwelling fires are not properly understood in terms of ethnicity as well as cultural norms and practices. • An analysis of national census data and a community survey addresses residential fires in terms of cultural values. • Variables such as trust and personal relationships explain the variance in rates of residential fires in ethnic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A street-intercept survey was carried out among citizens of the Netherlands in order to gain insight into people's perceptions in regard to various topics linked to fire services. Students conducted questionnaires among 247 respondents (residents over the age of 18 from Dutch municipalities). The various fire services topics in the questionnaire were 'prioritisation of fire service duties', 'response time, 'opinion on the fire station' and 'the relationship between fire safety and road safety'. Although the sample was not representative for the Dutch population the study provided insight into the societal impact of fire services which citizens, when asked, found important and 'valuable'. Respondents of the general public survey gave priority to preparedness and rapid turnout in the event of fire and assistance. The most important reason they gave for this prioritisation was the prevention of injury and fatalities. This exploratory public survey showed that people are willing to pay for fire service effects like rapid turnout times and saving lives. To make societal cost-benefit analysis on fire safety topics possible, economic valuation is needed on fire service effects. Further research is therefore recommended on the estimation of the 'value of a statistical life' (VOSL) in the context of fire safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a method for comparing the cost effectiveness of two ways of improving the fire protection in a community: the installation of detection-alarm systems (DAS) in dwellings and the addition of fire companies. The method is developed from a number of relatively simple models and assumptions. One is a relationship that predicts average travel time from the number of "covered" fire stations and the size of the area being served. A second is a set of regressions of the percentage of the property value destroyed vs. response time for five classes of fires in one- and two-family homes. And a third is the effect of installing detection-alarm systems on the distribution of fires among the five classes at the time of detection. Adding fire companies increases the number of covered stations, thus reducing response time, and thence expected loss. Installing detectors increases the proportion of fires in the less serious classes, thus reducing expected loss. The method was applied to data from Calgary, Canada. The results for this case show that, from a base case with no DAS and 16 fire stations, adding detectors would be more cost effective than adding fire stations to reduce fire losses if a DAS for a one- or two-family home costs less than $2500 to install and $1700 a year to maintain (or the equivalent cost mix using present values). The methodology can be extended to other types of occupancies (e.g., high-rise buildings and commercial properties), and to other types of losses (e.g., indirect and life). It could then become a useful tool in helping to choose fire protection levels for a community, as well as determining how to allocate a given amount of resources among different means of fire protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest fires are undesirable situations with tremendous impacts on wildlife and people's lives. Reaching them quickly is essential to slowing down their expansion and putting them out in an effective manner. This work proposes an optimized distribution of fire stations in the province of Valencia (Spain) to minimize the impacts of forest fires. Using historical data about fires in the Valencia province, together with the location information about existing fire stations and municipalities, two different clustering techniques have been applied. Floyd–Warshall dynamic programming algorithm has been used to estimate the average times to reach fires among municipalities and fire stations in order to quantify the impacts of station relocation. The minimization was done approximately through k-means clustering. The outcomes with different numbers of clusters determined a predicted tradeoff between reducing the time and the cost of more stations. The results show that the proposed relocation of fire stations generally ensures faster arrival to the municipalities compared to the current disposition of fire stations. In addition, deployment costs associated with station relocation are also of paramount importance, so this factor was also taken into account in the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]