Current Advances in the Assessment and Mitigation of Fire Risk in Buildings and Urban Areas: 2nd Edition

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Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England-UWE Bristol, Frenchay Campus, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
Interests: multi-hazard risk analysis; risk and vulnerability reduction; seismic vulnerability; seismic rehabilitation and retrofit; urban resilience; disaster response and reconstruction; geographic information systems
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

I am pleased to announce the feature Special Issue, "Current Advances on the Assessment and Mitigation of Fire Risk in Buildings and Urban Areas: 2nd Edition". Building on the success of the 1st Edition of this series of feature Special Issues (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fire/special_issues/2I58372153), this 2nd Edition aims to gather and showcase high-quality research featuring cutting-edge developments in the assessment and mitigation of fire risk in buildings and urban areas. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the application of empirical methods, statistical and probabilistic models, regression methods, probability distributions, fault and event trees, stochastic models, and machine learning techniques.

Following the foundation laid by the 1st Edition, the ultimate goal of this Special Issue is to make a concrete contribution towards strengthening the development and implementation of fire risk prevention, preparedness, and response actions.

Submissions from Editorial Board Members and outstanding scholars invited by the Editorial Board and the Editorial Office are particularly welcome. However, this Special Issue is open to any researcher working on the topic. Please feel free to contact the journal's Editorial Office at fire@mdpi.com with proposals for evaluation. 

To enhance the outreach of this initiative, the papers published in this Special Issue will be included in a Special Issue Reprint book, which will be published soon after the Special Issue is closed. 

Dr. Tiago Miguel Ferreira
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fire risk assessment
  • building fire analysis
  • structural fire engineering
  • urban fire risk
  • fire evacuation

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

35 pages, 9594 KiB  
Article
Effect of Protective Coatings on Post-Fire Performance and Behavior of Mild Steel-Based Cold-Formed Steel Back-to-Back Channel Columns with Bolted Connections
by Varun Sabu Sam, Anand Nammalvar, Andrainik Iswarary, Diana Andrushia, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi and Krishanu Roy
Fire 2025, 8(3), 107; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire8030107 - 10 Mar 2025
Viewed by 551
Abstract
This study investigates the buckling performance of built-up cold-formed steel (CFS) columns, with a focus on how different thermal exposures and cooling strategies influence their susceptibility to various failure mechanisms. Addressing the gap in the literature on the fire behavior of mild steel [...] Read more.
This study investigates the buckling performance of built-up cold-formed steel (CFS) columns, with a focus on how different thermal exposures and cooling strategies influence their susceptibility to various failure mechanisms. Addressing the gap in the literature on the fire behavior of mild steel (MS)-based CFS columns, the research aims to provide new insights. Compression tests were conducted on MS-based CFS column specimens after they were exposed to fire, to assess their post-fire buckling strength. The columns were subjected to controlled fire conditions following standardized protocols and then allowed to cool to room temperature. The study examined axial load-bearing capacity and deformation characteristics under elevated temperatures. To improve fire resistance, protective coatings—gypsum, perlite, and vermiculite—were applied to certain specimens before testing, and their performance was compared to that of uncoated specimens. A comprehensive finite element analysis (FEA) was also performed to model the structural response under different thermal and cooling scenarios, providing a detailed comparison of the coating effectiveness, which was validated against experimental results. The findings revealed significant variations in axial strength and failure mechanisms based on the type of fire-resistant coating used, as well as the heating and cooling durations. Among the coated specimens, those treated with perlite showed the best performance. For example, the air-cooled perlite-coated column (MBC2AC) retained a load capacity of 277.9 kN after 60 min of heating, a reduction of only 6.0% compared to the unheated reference section (MBREF). This performance was superior to that of the gypsum-coated (MBC1AC) and vermiculite-coated (MBC3AC) specimens, which showed reductions of 3.6% and 7.9% more, respectively. These results highlight the potential of perlite coatings to enhance the fire resistance of CFS columns, offering valuable insights for structural fire design. Full article
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