Method of information technology for structure analysis of urban network fire-rescue units
Authors: Danshyna Svitlana , Nechausov Artem 
Published: January 2024

The subject of this study is the process of analyzing the structure of the network of fire-rescue units of the city in the context of optimizing their spatial distribution. The purpose of this work is to increase the objectivity of decisions made while forming a city network of fire-rescue units by creating an information technology (IT) method for analysis of its structure based on the use of spatially distributed data. Objectives: to find ways to improve the level of fire safety, analyze existing approaches to the formation of a network of fire-rescue units, considering the peculiarities of building and organizing a network, and adapt the classical problem of placement; to propose a method for solving it to minimize the distance between the fire-rescue unit and the possible place of fire while ensuring maximum coverage of the territory by fire service; and to develop IT structure for its implementation based on the information flow model of the process of analyzing the fire-rescue units network using a geospatial approach. The following results were obtained. The study of the classical location problem and its adaptation to real problems arising from the analysis of the urban network of fire-rescue units made it possible to represent it as a set of independent complete bipartite graphs. To search the location of network nodes while solving an adapted problem, an IT method is developed, which, based on the p-median model, combines the author’s methodology for studying information processes and methods of geospatial analysis. Summarizing the requirements of the current legislation, a set of input and output IT data and a set of operations have been formed. The representation of the IT structure in the form of a data flow diagram explains how the set of factors is processed and generalized when making decisions on the creation and / or improvement of the existing city fire department. Conclusions. The results of the bibliographic search confirm the need to consider the spatial features of the area where it is planned to create a fire-rescue unit, as well as the spatial configuration of the urban network of existing fire stations, to evaluate its effectiveness using an integrated indicator. This requires the development of specialized methods focused on the use of geo-information systems for their implementation in decision support systems. Scientific and methodological support for IT has been developed, which gives local authorities a tool for analyzing fire safety in the city to create and / or improve the existing fire protection. An experiment to study the capabilities of the proposed method based on volunteered geographic information on Kharkiv city showed the effectiveness of its use for solving classical problems of placement, considering the accepted restrictions on the spatial availability of fire-rescue units. At the same time, additional opportunities appear in the formation of options for improving the network of fire-rescue units, considering their spatial distribution, workload, accessibility, and the resulting areas of coverage / non-coverage by the fire service. For example, the fire service coverage area of the existing structure of fire stations has been assessed. During the regulated time, it reaches 70% of the Kharkiv city area, and depending on the real road traffic, it can vary from 64.61% to 73.44%. It is illustrated that the creation of two additional fire and rescue units in the northern and southern parts of Kharkiv will increase the coverage area by approximately 5%, on average increasing it to 75.1%