WILDFIRE RISKS IN THE SOUTHWEST OF KY SON DISTRICT, NGHE AN PROVINCE – A MULTI-CRITICAL MODEL

Abstract

Wildfires are considered one of the most common hazards in mountainous areas, posing a serious threat to flora, fauna, and humans. This article focuses on building a forest fire risk map based on GIS techniques in the southwest area of Ky Son district, Nghe An province. The selected factors to create the forest fire risk map include 9 indices: NDDI drought index, surface temperature, slope, elevation, distance to roads, distance to rivers and streams, distance to upland fields, distance to residential areas, and aspect. The results of determining the weights of these factors using the AHP hierarchical analysis technique show that drought and surface temperature are the two factors that have the greatest influence on the forest fire risk index. The limit values that lead to forest fire risks for the drought criterion are 0.2 - 0.4 mm and for the surface temperature criterion are 25 - 30°C. The area with high fire risk accounts for the largest proportion, 38%, covering an area of 24,519.78 ha, followed by the average fire risk with 21,012.48 ha, accounting for 33% of the entire study area. The area with extremely high fire risk occupies the smallest area, 1,283.76 ha (2%). While controlling wildfires is challenging, forest fire risk maps can detect areas with higher risk and mitigate them. Therefore, creating forest fire risk maps for the identified areas is necessary.