LAND SUITABILITY FOR ESTABLISHING RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS FOR FIGHTING WILDFIRES

Abstract

Aerial fire fighting with a helicopter is a usual practice in Mexico State, the availability of water near to the wildfire area is crucial to refill the bucket and reduce the time between successive drops. Rain Water Harvesting system (RWH) can be used to supply water for the helicopter to combat wildfires. Identification of potential sites for RWH at places with high recurrence of wildfire is essential to improve the efficiency of the practice. However, selection of appropriate sites for RWH requires the integration of several variables. The identification of suitability sites for RWH was achieved using a multicriteria spatial analysis in a Geographical Information System (GIS) environment at the East of Mexico State, for three municipalities Chalco, Ixtapaluca and Tlalmanalco. Five variables were used to identify suitable sites for RHW: wind speed, wildfire density, distance to roads, runoff and evaporation. Each variable was ranked and weighted consulting the expert and a Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) was performed to generate the suitability map using Arc Gis 9.2 and Arc View 3.2. Suitability sites for RWH that met most of the criteria considered are found in North and South of the study area. The conclusion is that the identification of suitability sites to establish RWH system to supply water for the helicopter with the proposed method is a rapid and flexible tool. The output suitability map for the study area showed sites for RHW systems ranked from 1 to 10.