Special Section on Structure Ignition in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Wildfires that spread into communities, commonly referred to as WUI fires, are a significant problem in Australia, Canada, Europe, South America, and the United States. WUI fire spread is extraordinarily challenging and presents an emerging problem in fire safety science. While it is accepted that WUI fires are an important societal problem, little understanding exists on how to contain and mitigate the hazard associated with such fires. The recent WUI fire in Fort McMurray, Canada in 2016 captured the world’s attention to the devastation WUI fires may bring to communities. Hardening, or making structures more resistant to ignition in WUI fires, is an accepted approach to lessen the devastation produced by WUI fire exposures [1]. Building codes and standards already exist that provide requirements for the construction of new buildings in areas known to be prone to WUI fires [2–5]. Proven, scientifically based retrofitting strategies are required for homes, and other buildings, located in areas prone to such fires. The objective of codes and standards is to reduce the risk of structural ignition. They have been developed based on the best information at the time they were developed. The provisions generally focused on flame contact and radiant heat exposures. Based on current research, are these current codes and standards adequate? A workshop entitled Structure Ignition in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires was held on June 18–19, 2015 in Anaheim, CA. The presentations of the workshop were separated into four topic areas: post-fire studies, structure ignition/firebrand accumulation and generation studies, WUI modeling, and evaluation of mitigation strategies. The interested reader is referred to a NIST Special Publication that documents all the presentations at the workshop [6]. In total, 12 presentations were delivered at the workshop. Authors that delivered accepted presentations were invited to submit papers as part of a special section for publication in Fire Technology. As discussed below, 6 papers were ultimately accepted for publication.