Statistical analysis on the temporal-spatial characteristics of urban fires under typical urbanization features

The accelerating process of urbanization has brought on rapid development of urban scale, building structure, human activities and social environment, etc. Such process has undoubtedly enriched people's lives, but meanwhile, the urban fire situation has also attracted more and more attention. One important reason is that in urban areas the major fires have become much more frequency than ever before and the economic damage as well as the casualties caused by urban fires is also much huger. In this paper, based on the original fire data recorded by fire fighting departments, the urban fire distribution characteristics on temporal and spatial scales of some typical Chinese cities which present different urbanization features are analyzed. Besides, some major causes of urban fires occurrence are illustrated. The results of this paper are hoped to provide some scientific supports for the fire planning in Chinese cities. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.