The objective of this paper was to apply a GIS test to evaluate the distribution and placement of fire detection towers. The study area comprised 441.81 ha of forest stands owned by the Celulose Nipo-Brasileira - CENIBRA. Vector data (land use, streams, roads and contours) digitized in IDRISI were imported into ArcView 3.1. A digital elevation model with a resolution of 30 m was interpolated from the contour data. A point theme indicating the potential locations of 8 fire towers was visually created based on the elevation and the proximity of existing roads. The height of each tower was set to 30 m. The Visibility function of ArcView allowed to determine area visibility from each point. Tower 1 presented the highest visibility (66.1%). Since the study area was small, it was recommended to install only this tower. The methodology showed to be an efficient and feasible way to determine the ideal number of towers and the best places to install them. This procedure reduces the costs and improves the overall performance of fire prevention systems.
Fire detection towers; forest fires; GIS
