Evaluating urban fire vulnerability and accessibility to fire stations and hospitals in Austin, Texas

Study area, Travis County (Black), Austin fire department jurisdiction (Green), and census tracts with >50% coverage were included in the study (Purple).

Distribution of fire incidents across census tracts (Jenks natural breaks).

Global Moran’s I scatterplots for (a) normalized fire incident count, (b) health vulnerability index, and (c) socio-environmental vulnerability index.

Moran scatterplot, LISA cluster map, and choropleth map for (a) normalized fire incident count, (b) health vulnerability index, and (c) socioenvironmental vulnerability index.

Map of health vulnerability (a), socio-environmental coefficient (b), intercept (c) based on geographically weighted regression analysis.

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change has increased fire frequency and intensity, yet urban fire vulnerability is under-researched. This study identifies fire vulnerability patterns, maps high-risk areas with limited access to fire stations and hospitals, and determines factors contributing to increased fire incidents. A fire vulnerability index was developed using health and socio-environmental factors, while accessibility to resources was assessed through E2SFCA analysis. OLS and GWR regression identified factors linked to higher fire incidents. Results show high fire vulnerability in eastern and north-central Austin, with decreased access to fire stations and hospitals in the eastern periphery. GWR revealed a negative relationship between health vulnerability and fire incidents, and a positive relationship with socio-environmental vulnerability. Findings suggest areas with socio-environmental vulnerabilities face more fire incidents and have reduced access to critical resources, guiding public health, city planning, and emergency services in targeted mitigation strategie.

Team

Akhil Mandalapu, Kijin Seong, Junfeng Jiao

Supporting information

S1 Table. GWR model configurations. (XLSX)

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the City of Austin Fire Department for providing fire incident data. The authors extend their gratitude to their financial supporters.

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