Forest Fire Suppression: Consequences, Management Approaches, and New Paradigms

Dear Colleagues,

The prospects for damaging forest fires are increasing in many areas around the globe, challenging society to develop innovative and more efficient solutions. In this Special Issue, we focus on one aspect of this complex socioecological problem: suppression response to unplanned forest fires. We conceive of suppression as a continuum, ranging from attempts at total fire exclusion to attempts at leveraging fire as a natural disturbance process. Keys to improving society’s relationship with fire include an improved understanding of the near-, mid-, and long-term consequences of current suppression approaches, an improved capacity to enhance the safety and effectiveness of suppression responses, and perhaps new ways of thinking about the role of fire suppression in the broader context of forest management. In particular, we are interested in papers that target new approaches and paradigms relative to status quo solutions. Relevant topics for papers in this Special Issue include, but are not limited to: decision support; uncertainty and risk; simulation and optimization; monitoring and performance measurement; effects of suppression on forest health and biodiversity; safety; and strategic and operational planning.

Dr. Matthew P. Thompson
Dr. David E Calkin
Guest 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. 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 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. Forests 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 2600 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.