In this paper an application of location-allocation modelling to an emergency service is presented. This study differs in two aspects from earlier work because it covers two neglected fields: (1) it is concerned with a rural environment whereas most case studies are about urban areas; (2) it is a comparison of the performance of several models instead of using only one. Efficiency as well as equity are taken into account. The main conclusions are about the issues of the choice of an appropriate model from 3 candidate models, the stability of the solutions with respect to variations in the number of facilities, the quasi-nested structure of some solutions, and the high cost of introducing equity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CohonJ, 1978Multiobjective Programming and PlanningAcademic Press, New York)
2.
CoinerDGilsinnD, 1973, “Fire service location - allocation models”, technical note 744 (National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC)
3.
CurrentJSchillingD, 1987, “Elimination of source A and B errors in p -median location problems”Geographical Analysis1995–110
4.
DijkstraE, 1959, “A note on two problems in connexion with graphs”Numerische Mathematik1269–271
5.
HanjoulPPeetersD, 1985, “Comparison of two dual-based procedures for solving the p-median problem”European Journal of Operational Research20387–396
6.
HansenPLabbéMPeetersDThisseJ-F, 1987, “Facility location analysis”Fundamentals of Pure and Applied Economics221–70
7.
HoggJ, 1968, “The siting of fire stations”Operational Research Quarterly19275–287
8.
KolesarP, 1981, “Ten years of research on the logistics of urban emergency services”, in Operational Research ‘81 Ed. BransJ-P, (North-Holland, Amsterdam) pp 557–568
9.
KolesarPWalkerW, 1974, “An algorithm for the dynamic relocation of fire companies”Operations Research22249–274
10.
KolesarPWalkerWHausnerJ, 1975, “Determining the relation between fire engine travel times and travel distances in New York City”Operations Research23614–627
11.
LarsonR, 1975, “Approximating the performance of urban emergency service systems”Operations Research23845–868
12.
PlaneDHendrickT, 1977, “Mathematical programming and the location of fire companies for the Denver fire department”Operations Research25563–578
13.
RaoufA, 1972An Evaluation of the Placement of Fire Stations in a City: A Case StudyUniversity of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario)
14.
RichardD, 1985La Localisation des Services d'Incendies dans la Province de LuxembourgUniversité Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)
15.
SchillingDReVelleCCohonJElzingaD, 1980, “Some models of fire protection locational decisions”European Journal of Operational Research51–17
16.
SwerseyAIgnallECormanHArmstrongPWeidlingJ, 1975Fire Protection and Local Government: An Evaluation of Policy-related ResearchThe New York City Rand Institute, New York)
17.
ValinskyD, 1955, “A determination of the optimum location of fire-fighting units in New York City”Operations Research3494–512
18.
WalkerW, 1974, “Using the set-covering problem to assign fire companies to fire houses”Operations Research22215–211
19.
WalkerWChaikenJIgnallE, (Eds), 1979Fire Department Deployment Analysis: A Public Policy Analysis Case StudyNorth-Holland, New York)
20.
WeitzH, 1969, “A model for the simulation of the fire services of an urban community”Fire Journal6348–99
