Optimal Fire Station Site Selection in Erbil City, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: A GIS-AHP Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23918/eajse.v11i2p4Keywords:
Fire Station Site Selection, Urban Emergency Planning, Erbil City, GIS, AHPAbstract
In a rapidly sprawling city with population growth, as Erbil city, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the placement of fire stations can make a major difference in how quickly emergency services respond. This study looks at how Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), can be used to identify the best areas for building new fire stations. Fourteen Parameters were considered, including population density in each area, the risk of disasters, proximity to roads, and where current fire stations are located. Experts helped assign importance to each factor using the AHP method. All the data were processed in GIS to create a map showing which parts of the city are most suitable and essential. The map revealed five categories of suitability, with the eastern and southern districts, especially the neighborhoods in Municipalities 3, 4, and 5-marked as high-priority zones. These cover nearly 46% of the study area. A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was done, resulting in an Area under the Curve (AUC) of 0.910, which shows strong accuracy for the AHP technique. Overall, the results show that using this method helps make more informed decisions about emergency planning. It can be concluded that the same approach could be useful in other cities facing similar problems with how emergency services are distributed, and the study shows a good decision for urban planners to consider where to establish new emergency facilities in future planning.
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Data Availability Statement
The data used in this research were obtained from publicly available sources, including the Erbil Governorate’s GIS Department and other official government databases and websites. Further details and data access information can be provided by the author upon reasonable request.
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