Assessing Fire Risk in Forest Ranges of Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh: Using Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS

Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh falls under one of the fire risk zones, which cover the forest ranges of Sattenapalli, Vinukonda, Macharla, Repalle, Wild-life Krishna and Sagar. Especially forest fire in these areas has laid stress on the fragile forest eco-system due to human activities and natural causes, which reflects in forest degradation. For better management of natural resources it is very important to understand the natural set up of the region along with factors governing them. Therefore, an attempt has been made to assess & map the potential fire occurrences in the region, which are important for forest management planning, using Remote Sensing & GIS technologies. In the present study Remote Sensing data (LISS-III) were used for assessing & mapping various thematic maps. The Potential fire occurrence maps were generated from the developed risk index model, which is an integrated function of various landscape parameters (like slope, aspect, vegetation types, canopy density, roads and villages) derived from the landscape mapping using GIS. This model gives various levels of risk concerned within the forest blocks of study area, and the statistics estimated would help to take up preventive measures and future predictions.