Spatial distribution patterns analysis of historical forest fires in DaXingAn Mountains of China

Forest fires caused serious damage to socioeconomic by burning a tract of forest trees, and even they threaten human´s life. The spatial distribution patterns of the historical forest fires can clearly explain the character of the fires spatial distribution. With the development of computer technology and Geographic Information Science (GIS), we can identify the spatial distribution patterns of the historical forest fires more easily. In this paper, Ripley´s K function and Kernel density estimation were combined perfectly to recognize the spatial distribution patterns of historical forest fires. The analysis showed that the spatial distribution pattern of human-caused fires is in clusters at the scale of 23047 meters and the density map expressed human-caused fires were inclined to occur in the area where within 20 kilometers on both sides of roads. The distribution of the lightning-caused fires is much closed to the pattern of completely spatially random at scale of 961-40380 meters. This kind of spatial distribution information is very useful for forest managers to predict and manage forest fires.