Fire, Electrical Systems, and Safety: Advances and Solutions

Dear Colleagues,

In many countries, electrical fires constitute around 20% of the structure fires that occur. They are often the fourth most common type of structure fire, after cooking fires, incendiary fires, and smoking material fires. They are consequently an important type of building fire. Electrical fires can also cause wildland fires. In terms of the total number of wildland fires, electrically caused fires only make up a small fraction; however, their importance emerges when it is seen that, in many locales, they account for the highest amount of losses incurred due to wildland fire events. There are a number of physical mechanisms which can lead to the ignition of an electrical fire. Some of them are not unique to this type of fire. One example is ignitions from small, hot bodies ejected from an electrical short-circuit. Under some conditions, such hot bodies can ignite nearby fuels. However, electricity is not the only source for small hot bodies; these can be created through torch-cutting, grinding, etc. Electricity is a unique source of energy for other ignition mechanisms. Some examples of this include lightning strikes and the arc tracking of insulation materials. Fires and explosions associated with lithium-ion batteries are an emerging area of concern due to their implications for firefighting, as such fires tend to be exceptionally difficult to suppress. All of these factors highlight the relevance of research on this topic to better understand electrical fires.

Dr. Vytenis Babrauskas
Prof. Dr. David J. Icove
Guest Editors

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• electrical fires
• cable fire
• fire modeling
• wildland fires
• lithium-ion battery fires