Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Fire Outbreaks in Markets of Kano Metropolis, Kano State, Nigeria

Recurrent fire outbreaks in market places have been a major threat to commercial activities within Kano metropolis. This necessitated the need to examine the spatio-temporal pattern of the outbreaks in relation to the nature and importance of the markets with a view to mitigating its consequences for sustainable commercial development. Fire incidence records (1974-2017) comprising of incidence dates, time, year, location, causes and consequences was obtained from the Kano State Fire Service Department. Electronic and GPS surveying was conducted to determine the absolute locations for spatial and temporal analyses. The result from spatial analysis indicated a clustered pattern of fire outbreaks within the major markets with Nearest Neighbor Ratio of 0.179. Temporally, there were more fire incidence recurrence (about 20.9%) and property damage between 2007and 2017, thereby making it the most devastating period of market fire outbreaks in Kano. Based on the nature of markets, the overall result depicted that mixed markets and single commodity market experienced 76.5% and 23.5% fire incidence respectively. This was attributed to the extent of commercial activities, the use of electricity, and the flammability of the products. The study thus recommends fire safety education and fire prevention practices throughout the markets for risk reduction and sustainable economic development.