Utilisation of GIS and remote sensing for forest fire risk zone mapping at Tram Chim National Park

Abstract

Identification of areas of high fire risk is extremely important task in fire prevention and fire fighting. This study focuses on utilizing GIS and remote sensing to predict highest forest fire risk zones at Tram Chim National Park. Forest fire risk index was calculated based on forest-fire causing factors. The factors consist of landcover density and types, distance to water and settlements, surface temperature and leaf wetness index. And then, two forest fire risk maps were completed, one of them represented the fire risk in the rainy season in 2013, the other performed the fire risk in the dry season 2014. High fire risk zones locate mostly at the edge of the park where the bionass is rich and are near settlements. According to this fire risk computing, in the rainy season, area of high fire risk zone was 1,014.65 ha, about 14 % natural areas of Tram Chim National Park. In additional, in the dry season, high forest fire risk zones was 3,344.65 ha, and there is no safety zone. Results of the research contribute to the forest protecting at Tram Chim National Park and over the country.