Abstract:
The aim of this study is to assess the areas at risk of wildfires around the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy (CRMA) and its vicinity in Nakhon Nayok Province. The study utilized Remote Sensing and GIS techniques to analyze SENTINEL-2 satellite imagery from 2016, 2020, and 2023 to examine the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). The images from the Sentinel-2 satellite were employed to calculate the Difference Normalized Burn Ratio (DNBR) using the SNAP program to identify burned areas. Various factors including elevation, slopes, aspect, forest type, distances from roads and districts, proximity to agricultural areas, NDVI, and LST were considered to determine areas at risk of wildfires. The areas were categorized into four levels of risk, with the highest risk area being identified in Prommani, Ampher Muang, totaling 4,957.15 ha. (17.98%), 5,489.3 ha. (19.90%), 16,494.0 ha. (59.81%), and 636.4 ha. (2.31%) for highest risk, high risk, moderate risk, and low risk areas, respectively. The finding in this study attributes that human activities were identified as the cause of the wildfires, with factors such as distance from agricultural areas and proximity to transportation routes being of utmost importance. Recommendations for wildfire management include fuel management before wildfire season, increasing firebreak in risk areas, conducting campaigns to raise awareness about wildfire issues, and organizing personnel training seminars.