Project:
Fire Watch: A Tool for Information and Deployment
Missouri Department of Conservation field staff aid rural fire departments by responding wildfires, but how do you quickly locate the fire and nearest staff to respond?
Initial discussions for what is now the Fire Watch program began following the 2002 fire season. Field staff needed an efficient way to convert Lat/Long coordinates called out by an aircraft to a township, range and section (TRS) for staff in the field to respond. The old reliable method of plotting the coordinates on a wall map with a straight edge left a little to be desired, especially on a "busy" day.
Development began using Avenue and ArcView 3.2 to create a simple and easy to use application that would allow users to input the coordinates and plot them on the screen. The scripts would automatically re-project, plot, label, zoom to and select other layers to be added to the project, all from the input coordinate. Additional buttons were created to remove the both aerial and topographic base information as well as print maps in both forms to visualize the danger areas surrounding the fire.
The project is still used by the original staff and usage has spread around the state, however there have been a few modifications since its inception. The project is currently inside of ArcGIS 9 and the actual fires locations are captured in a shapefile that can be used for analysis at a later date. Some of the information captured with the program are; Julian Date, 24k topographic quadrangle, TRS, county and the daily fire number. To date, staff are still very pleased with the efficiency, accuracy, and ease of use that the program provides.
Contact:
Kevin C. Borisenko
MO Dept. of Conservation
Resource Science Division
(573) 522-4115 Ext. 3345
Web site:
mdcgis.mdc.mo.gov