Fire Station Districting Using Simulation: Case Study in Centre Region, Pennsylvania

Abstract

In this paper, fire station redistricting of the Centre Region in Pennsylvania is considered to improve the efficiency of service and reflect the changing characteristics of the region. The problem is formulated as a multiobjective mathematical optimization problem. Due to difficulties in building a comprehensive analytical model and associated computational complexity, simulation, aided by a geographic information systems application software package, is employed to solve the problem. The effectiveness of this analysis indicates that simulation can be used to solve problems of this nature and satisfactory districting plans can be generated efficiently.