Peter Kolesar

ORSA's Lanchester Prize has been awarded to the paper, "An Algorithm for the Dynamic Relocation of Fire Companies," written by two Rand Corporation researchers, Peter Kolesar and Warren E. Walker. The paper, published in the March-April, 1974 issue of Operations Research (Volume 22, pages 249-274) was selected as "the best English-language published contribution to operations research" in 1974.

The Lanchester Prize Committee's citation was as follows:

• "The prize winning Kolesar and Walker paper exemplifies an application of operations research to a new and important area, and introduces new methodology to the solution of the problem treated. The exposition is clear and succinct; the contribution of the paper is real and substantial. The methods developed in the paper have been applied in New York City, and can be applied in other cities as well.
• "With becoming modesty, the authors describe how they observed the system in operation, how they conferred with the New York City Fire Department to learn what is meant by a good relocation, how they made their technical definitions operational, how they analyzed historical data, and how they designed an algorithm that can yield, at no extra cost, an improvement in the quality of fire protection.
• "The paper provides an appropriate mathematical formulation of the relocation problem, presents a practical heuristic solution, and shows how the algorithm works in a real-time dynamic environment. The results are demonstrably better than existing procedures, and the new methods are easily put into use in connection with a management information and control system to be implemented by the New York City Fire Department.
• "In summary, the Kolesar and Walker paper provides an O.R. approach that can help save lives and reduce property damage from fires by making it possible for fire companies to respond more rapidly to serious emergencies. "