Forest fire mapping in Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

The sources and origins of forest fires that occurred in the peak fire season of 1998 in the Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary of Thailand were delineated using single date satellite imagery. It was found that the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data is extremely useful for accurate delineation and demarcation of 'burnt areas' that occurred during the season. An overall classification accuracy of 87.38% was achieved for general land use/land cover categorization and an overall classification accuracy of 88.3% was achieved for 'burnt areas' delineation. The underlying causes of forest fires and fire susceptibility of different forest types of the sanctuary are described. Key management prescriptions to avoid occurrence of future Forest fires are suggested. It is recommended to acquire and analyse multiyear and multiseasonal satellite data in order to create a fire history of the area acid to capture all forest fire events of the season. It is also recommended to create a GIS database consisting of biophysical and socio-economic variables needed for fire hazard mapping and forest fire simulation.