Technical Forum for Fire Science Laboratory and Field Methods

Dear Colleagues,

Since the 1950s, significant advances in wildland fire science have arisen due to research at combustion laboratories and during scaling and validation experiments in planned landscape fires. Often, calibration experiments, technical descriptions of methods and equipment, and descriptions of data go unpublished or are relegated to supplemental material. However, this can make it difficult for standards to be identified or for mistakes to be avoided by subsequent researchers. Furthermore, available data on physical properties such as thermal conductivity, bulk density, specific gravity, and heat of combustion are often difficult to find. This Topical Collection provides a permanent forum for wildland fire combustion laboratory and associated field researchers to share advances associated with data, equipment, and analytical methods.

We welcome articles, technical notes, reviews, perspectives and viewpoints, and conference papers. Articles should seek to validate or cross-compare a method or model using laboratory or in situ measurements.

Topics can include but are not limited to technical descriptions and assessments of the following:

• Combustion laboratory experimental designs to explore any aspect of fire science (structural or wildland fire).
• Landscape fire or in situ field experimental designs that scale up laboratory research to assess wildland fuel, fire behavior, or fire effects.
• Models used in structural or wildland fire science, provided information is included on how they can be validated using laboratory or in situ measurements.
• Sensors, methods, and equipment to measure properties of wildland fuel in combustion laboratories and scaled-up in situ fires (e.g., moisture content, mineral and chemical composition, bulk density, flammability).
• Sensors, methods, and equipment to measure properties of fire behavior in combustion laboratories and scaled-up in-situ fires (e.g., rates of spread, heat transfer, air flow, flame heights, temperatures, environmental conditions).
• Sensors, methods, and equipment to measure properties of post-fire effects in combustion laboratories and scaled-up in situ fires (e.g., emissions, mass-loss rates, plant morphology and physiology, soil processes).
• Calibration and validation experiments related to models or new sensors and equipment in combustion laboratories and scaled-up in situ fires.
• Technical notes describing how to correctly conduct common fire science laboratory and in situ measurements, especially where mistakes are common in the literature or in practice.
• Articles focused on scaling of research from laboratories to in situ fires.

Prof. Dr. Claire Belcher
Dr. David M.J.S. Bowman
Dr. Evan Ellicott
Dr. Peter Hamlington
Dr. Chad M. Hoffma
Dr. William M. Jolly
Dr. Rodman Linn
Dr. Sara McAllister
Dr. Joseph O'Brien
Prof. Dr. Albert Simeoni
Dr. Alistair M. S. Smith
Dr. Wojciech Węgrzyński
Collection Editors

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. 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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.