English

Resource Allocation Based on Past Incident Patterns

Optimization and Control 2026-01-26 v1

Abstract

We formulate and solve two resource allocation problems motivated by a preparedness question of emergency response services. First, we consider the assignment of vehicles to stations, and, in a second step, assign crews to vehicles. In both cases, we work in a minimax framework and define the objective function for a spatial catchment area as the total risk in this area per resource unit allocated to it. The solutions are explicit and can be calculated in practice by a greedy algorithm that successively allocates a resource unit to an area having maximal relative risk, with suitable tie breaker rules. The approach is illustrated on a data set of incidents reported to the Twente Fire Brigade.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.16702,
  title  = {Resource Allocation Based on Past Incident Patterns},
  author = {M. N. M. van Lieshout},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.16702},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:17:17.347Z