A Spatio-Temporal Analysis on the forest Fire Occurrence in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Fire is a disaster that causes adverse effects to forests, ecosystems and human life in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Enhancing technologies that monitor fires could reduce the occurrence of these disasters. In order to develop a robust fire monitoring system, a deep understanding of fire behaviour is needed. This study focuses on the investigation of spatial and temporal factors influencing forest fires in Central Kalimantan from 2005 to 2012. Data analytic modelling methods in geographic information system tools are applied to analyse data retrieved from MODIS satellite images coupled with ecological and weather information. Based on this analysis and an extensive literature review, this study proposes a new framework that illustrates the interactions amongst factors that contribute to forest fire. This framework shows that weather and ecological conditions play an important role in the development of forest fire. It also shows the influence of fire related to human activities to the development of fire. Understanding the characteristics and behaviour of fire is however only the first step in the effort to minimise fire occurrence in Central Kalimantan. The future work of this study is to use fire characteristics and behaviour obtained from remote-sensing analysis as input to predict fire occurrence.