Abstract Forest fire is a major cause of changes in forest structure and function.

Forest fires are as

old as forests themselves. Forest fires are one of the major natural risks in the Uttarakhand forests. In
such areas, fires occur frequently and there is a need for supranational approaches that analyze wide
scenarios of factors involved. It is impossible to control nature, but is possible to map forest fire risk
zone and thereby minimize the frequency of fire. Forest and wild land fire are considered vital natural
processes initiating natural exercises of vegetation succession. However uncontrolled and misuse of
fire can cause tremendous adverse impacts on the environment and the human society. A risk model
for fire spreading is set up for Kansrao Forest Range of Rajaji National Park where Forest and wild
land fires have been taking place historically, shaping landscape structure, pattern and ultimately the
species composition of ecosystems both flora and fauna. It is based upon a combination of remote
sensing and GIS data. In this study, Resourcesat P6 LISS III (spatial resolution 23.5m, 4 bands
(Red) (Green) (NIR) (SWIR), Topo Sheet (SOI) no.53 J/4 on scale 1:50,000 and contour interval 20
meters, ASTER 30m and Garmin 72 GPS were used. For these analyses ArcGIS and ERDAS
Imagine software was used. Land use information was obtained from the satellite images in this study.
In this phase the distinction of species in the forest was determined using supervised classification.
The lands that have priorities in case of fire were decided by combining the moisture of the land and
slope classes that were determined by conventional approaches with the satellite images. The results
of the analysis were shown by reports and graphs. The test region results should be applied all over
Rajaji National Park.
Keywords LISS, Forest Fire, Risk Zonation, DEM, Disaster

Introduction
Wildfires are considered as a serious problem distressing many terrestrial ecosystems in the Earth
system and causing economic damage for people [1] such as missing income relative to the land use,
destruction and lost property, damages to agriculture, and loss of biodiversity [2, 3]. Also, it is one of
the most important parts of land degradation that is caused by deforestation and desertification [4].
Information on the distribution of forest fire risk zones is essential for the effective and sound decision
making process in the forest management [5]. Forest fire risk evaluation is a critical part of fire
prevention, since pre-fire planning resources require objective tools to monitor when and where a fire
is more prone to occur, or when will it have more negative effects [6]. Forest fire modeling involves the
risk assessment and evaluation. The term risk is used to describe the probability that a fire might
start, as affected by the nature and incidence of causative agents [7].
In India, about 2-3 % of the forest area is affected annually by fire and on an average over 34,000 ha
forest areas are burnt by fire every year [8]. Remote sensing and GIS is important tool for mapping
and management of forest fires. The first application of forest fire dates from 1960 when several aerial
infrared scanners were tested for fire spot detection [9]. In addition to forest fire mapping, remote
sensing has been effectively used in fire hazard rating system. In many fire hazard rating, critical
factors were vegetation, slope, aspect and elevation. Deeming et al., 1978 [10] have used LANDSAT
MSS image to obtain fuel oriented vegetation maps. Satellite remote sensing based forest fire
detection methods have been developed and demonstrated by Cuomo et al., 2001 [11] and Salvador
et al., 2000 [12].
In India, foresters have been debating the issue of forest fire control for a long time, but the paucity of
information owing to the lack of qualitative and quantitative studies on forest fire and its effect has not
resulted in any defined approach to controlling the forest fires.
Forest fire risk zones are locations where a fire is likely to start, and from where it can easily spread to
other areas. A precise evaluation of forest fire problems and decision on solutions can only be
satisfactory when a fire risk zone mapping is available [13]. Understanding the behaviour of forest fire,
the factors that contribute to making an environment fire prone, and the factors that influence fire
behavior are essential for forest fire [9]. The GIS-based model seems to be a reasonably good
approach for the conditions in India, where a major part of the forested land is being encroached upon
by the population [14, 15].
In the present study, an attempt is made to prepare a forest fire risk zone map by integrating a
satellite image, topographical and other ancillary data from a geographic information system(GIS) for
Kansrao Range which is the most forest fire sensitive area in Rajaji National Park. This study is also
an attempt to exploit the capabilities of remote sensing and GIS techniques and to suggest an
appropriate methodology for forest fire risk zone mapping. Such maps will help forest department

officials prevent or minimize fire risk activities within the forest and take proper action when fire breaks
out [16].
2. Study Area
Kansrao forest range is located in Rajaji National Park, the park extends from 29 o 52` to 30o 15` north
latitude to 78o 57` to 78o 23` east longitude in north India and covers an area about 820.42 km 2.The
study area is situated between 78o 02` to 78o 18` east longitude to 30o 15` to 30o 05` north latitude.
The study area covers an area about 79.33 km 2. The area is located in the Garhwal Shivaliks behind
Haridwar across the Rishikesh-Haridwar road in India. The area has an uneven topography, with
elevation ranging from 360 m to 860 m. The area is covered with thick green forest, mainly Sal, Teak,
and other varieties of deciduous trees, along with grass and shrubs. Kansrao can be reached from
Cheering Crossing via Jabbarwala check post that lies 7 Kms further ahead. If this road is not motor
able then Jabbarwala check post can be reached alternatively from Doiwala (3 kms from lachiwala
railway bridge crossing on the highway
Material and Methods
3.1. Data
The data used is Resourcesat P6 LISS III of December 2009 (spatial resolution 23.5m), Topo Sheet
(SOI) No.53 J/4 on scale 1:50,000 with contour interval 20 meters, ASTER 30m and Garmin 72 GPS
for defining and identifying the burned area and for estimating the vegetation loss. The data prepared
for this study area were the following: forest type map, vegetation map, elevation, slope, aspect,
standard topographic map and climate data (average wind, rainfall data, and temperature).
3.2. Methods
With the help of survey of India (SOI) website toposheet required for the study area has been
identified. LISS III data was used for image analysis work. ASTER data was used to generate Digital
Elevation Model (DEM) for the study area. The topographical factors like, altitude, slope and aspect
layers were derived from DEM. The satellite images were corrected for the influence of atmosphere
and topographic relief. These data were geo-coded with the help of rectified toposheets according to
Geographic (lat. /long.) projection system with Everest ellipsoid and IndiaBangladesh datum was
used using ERDAS Imagine software. Boundary of Kansrao forest range was digitized from toposheet
in vector form with the help of ERDAS 9.1 using vector tool, an area of interest boundary generated
using the vector file helped in to get the subset image of Kansro forest range from satellite data.
Complete road network was digitized from toposheet and buffer was created for distance of 200m,
400m, 500m and 600m from the center of the road.
The flowchart for the methodology is shown in Figure 2.
Settlement areas were digitized in point vector form, as the settlement was outside the Kansrao forest
range the settlement buffer were created for 1000m, 2000m and 3000 m distance. The FCC of LISS
III December 2009 image was used in the study. FCC was rectified with toposheet using first order
nearest neighbor rules. A total of 20 ground points were used to register the image with the
rectification error of less than 1 pixel, with the help of ERDAS.
Generation of Thematic Layers
For inputting spatial data in GIS, it is necessary that the resource information is in the form of map;
hence the mapping of the thematic layers is one of the primary requirements. Remote sensing,
coupled with limited ground checks, is the most ideal way for generating resource maps.
A. Generation of Forest Type and Density Type Layers
In this study density mapping employed the use of LISS III data, which was free from cloud
cover. Unsupervised classification approach was used for forest density mapping using
ERDAS. The study area was classified into 50 spectral classes using unsupervised image
classification approach. Eventually the forest cover of study area was stratified into four major
types on the basis of density viz; VDF (very dense forest), MDF (moderately dense forest),
OF (open forest) NF (non forest), as per the fundamental criteria of FSI for forest cover
mapping (FCM).
Supervised approach was used for forest type classification in which 20 training sets were taken from
Google earth as ground control points. Based on the field visit the study area was classified into Moist
Sal forest, Deciduous forest, Plantation and Degraded forest.
B. Generation of Slope, Aspect and Elevation from DEM (Digital Elevation Model) .

A subset of the ASTER 30 m DEM of study area was clipped with the help of boundary vector
layer. Elevation, Aspect and Slope were generated from ASTER 30m DEM with the help of
ERDAS EMAGINE 9.1 using topographic analysis tool.
Generating Index Value Maps
In the present study the map layers generated above viz. forest density (Figure 3), vegetation type
map (Figure 4), fuel type map (Figure 5), slope map (Figure 6), aspect map (Figure 7), elevation map
(Figure 8), road map (Figure 9) and settlement map (Figure 10) and were reclassified for assigning
weightage Weights were given to each factor according to their influence on fire behavior by having
experience and the opinion of the experts in the field (Tables 1 to 6).
Risk Zonation Index/Fire Risk Modeling .
In this study spatial modeling has been done to obtain the combined effect of fuel type index,
elevation index, slope index, aspect index, road index and settlement index. Different weights have
been assigned as per the importance of the particular variables in relation to the area under study.
Highest weight of nine have been given to the fuel type index, because, fuel contributes to the
maximum extent due to inflammability factor. The second highest weights has been given to slope
and aspect, because, sun facing aspects receive direct sun rays and make the fuel drier and highly
inflammable; higher slopes contribute to convectional preheating and easy ignition and spreading of
fire. Besides on steep slopes, the dry biomass is more close to fire flames causing the fire to spread
more speedily. Spatial analysis using a function in model maker tool of ERDAS was carried out which
revealed that on a 36% slope, the rate of fire spread is twice as compared to fire on a slope of 18%.
The following equation was used in the map calculation:
Where FRZI = Fire Risk Zonation Index
FUI = Fuel Type Index
SLI = Slope Index
ASI = Aspect Index
RDI = Road Index
STI = Settlement Index
ELI = Elevation Index
As different weights were tried for different variables and the weights given in the equations were used
to generate fire risk zonation map. The fire risk index values in this map (FRZI) were ranging from 14
to 135. Based on the statistics of different weight classes, the map was reclassified into five classes
as very low, low, moderate, high and very high to generate fire risk area map

Results and Discussion

Settlement, accessibility and forest types had played an important role in fire risk zonation modeling.
The other variables elevation and slope have comparatively less impacting estimation of fire risk
zonation. The area under different fire risk zones is summarized in Table 7.
Fire Risk Zonation Map
A further study of risk zonation map (Figure 12) with forest type map showed that deciduous and
degraded forest types having high fuel content were falling on very high and high risk areas where as
moist sal and plantation were falling on low and very low fire risk areas. Very high and high fire risk
areas were mostly lying in southern and western aspect having warmer and dry conditions, whereas
northern and eastern slopes were falling on low and very low fire risk areas. This may be attributed to
the fact that southern and western aspects receive high amount of sun insulation for the major part of
the day and accordingly are warmer than other aspects. Fire could thus certainly be averted by taking
precautionary measures. Hence, despite the fact that no fire prone areas can be demarcated where
fire occurs due to natural or intentional human causes, it is advantageous to have a fire risk map to
avert possible disasters caused by fire due to human activities. It should prove to be helpful to the
Forest Department, as this type of fire risk zone map would enable the department to set up an
appropriate fire-fighting infrastructure for the areas more prone to fire damage. Such a map would

help in planning the main roads, subsidiary roads, inspection paths, etc. and may lead to a reliable
communication and transport system to efficiently fight small and large forest fires
Validation of Forest Fire Risk Model
The final forest fire risk model was validated with past fire incidences data that was collected from
field visits and fire points were taken from Forest Survey of India website. The results of the study
showed that out of 27 fire incidences 20 incidences had occurred in very high and high risk areas.
Conclusion
Fire risk modeling using multi criteria analysis and integrating different layers resulted in developing
fire risk assessment of study area. Fire risk index map can be used to prioritize for taking forest fire
prevention initiatives at management level. Forest type, density maps and other parameters can be
helpful in installation of suitable watch towers for prevention of fire.
Layers generation for slope altitude and forest density can be used for calculating response time for
the disaster. Digital elevation model can be effectively used for studying terrain characteristics and for
generating a view shed.
The precision in the modeling could be increased by adding more number of variables in the analysis.
However, the selection of variables should be based on knowledge base of the area. The areas
shown under very high, high and moderate fire risk zones are those areas where fire can be
unintentionally caused by human activities, and where fire could thus certainly be averted by taking
precautionary measures. Hence, despite the fact that no fire prone areas can be demarcated where
fire occurs due to natural or intentional human causes, it is advantageous to have a fire risk map to
avert possible disasters caused by fire due to human activities. It should prove to be helpful to the
Forest Department, as this type of fire risk zone map would enable the department to set up an
appropriate fire-fighting infrastructure for the areas more prone to fire damage. Such a map would
help in planning the main roads, subsidiary roads, inspection paths, etc. and may lead to a reliable
communication and transport system to efficiently fight small and large forest fires.