Selection of the Firefighting Water Reservoirs Establishment Location as a Tool for Response to Forest Fires

Forest fires are a type of disaster that arises from various natural events or human-caused reasons. As a result of forest fires, ecosystems can be damaged, plant and animal habitats destroyed, biodiversity decreased, and ecological degradation occurs in many areas. This study aims to address the site selection problem for water reservoirs used to extinguish forest fires, while accounting for the importance of forest fires. The problem addressed in this study is considered a decision-making problem. Therefore, multi-measure decision-making (MCDM) techniques were preferred in solving the problem. The AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method, widely used in the literature, was preferred for calculating the criteria weights and verifying the consistency of the results. For ranking the alternatives, the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) was preferred, which provides proximity values to the best alternative. According to the results, fire risk was identified as the most important criterion for site selection. According to the TOPSIS results, Ortaca was identified as the preferred location for the Fire Extinguishing Water Reservoir.