The graph median and center problems are well known with numerous possible applications. The first is suitable for locating a facility providing a routine service, by means of minimizing the average distance of customers to it. The second is appropriate for emergency services where the objective...

This paper develops a method for comparing the cost effectiveness of two ways of improving the fire protection in a community: the installation of detection-alarm systems (DAS) in dwellings and the addition of fire companies. The method is developed from a number of relatively simple models and...

This paper presents a semi-empirical method for the analysis of manning policies in firefighting. Since manpower costs account for a major share of non-volunteer fire departments' budgets, manning level is one of the most important policy issues relating to fire departments faced by local...

This note proposes a new edge elimination criterion in an algorithm whose purpose is to locate the center of a graph. The new criterion requites the same amount of information and computation but generates a stronger lower bound. It therefore reduces substantially the number of edges that have...