Edi o ial: Imp o ed Unde s anding o
Fi eb and P ocesses Du ing La ge
Scale Fi e Disas e s
Samuel L. Manzello
1
*, Sayaka Suzuki
2
, Domingos Xa ie Viegas
3
and Naian Liu
4
1
Reax Enginee ing, Be keley, CA, Uni ed S a es,
2
Na ional Resea ch Ins i u e o Fi e and Disas e , Cho u, Japan,
3
Uni e si y o
Coimb a, Coimb a, Po ugal,
4
S a e Key Labo a o y o Fi e Science, Uni e si y o Science and Technology o China, He ei, China
Keywo ds: la ge ou doo fi es and he buil en i onmen , fi eb ands, embe s, WUI fi es, igni ion
Edi o ial on he Resea ch Topic
Imp o ed Unde s anding o Fi eb and P ocesses Du ing La ge Scale Fi e Disas e s
All ac oss he globe, la ge ou doo fi es ha e been esponsible o des uc ion o in as uc u e.
Wildland fi es ha sp ead in o u ban a eas, o en called wildland-u ban in e ace (WUI) fi es, a e
capable o massi e des uc ion. The ise o densely popula ed u ban a eas has also seen he
de elopmen o la ge u ban fi es. In China and Japan, such u ban fi es ha e occu ed o
hund eds o yea s. Simila ly, he Uni ed S a es has also expe ienced se e al majo u ban fi es,
such as he G ea Chicago Fi e in 1872 and he Bal imo e Fi e in 1904. In some cases, ea hquakes
ha e se ed o ini ia e hese fi es bu i is no a necessa y condi ion o hese u ban fi es o de elop. In
addi ion, he ise o in o mal se lemen communi ies in Sou heas Asia and A ica con inues o
esul in la ge ou doo fi es capable o g ea des uc ion.
A common ea u e in he apid sp ead o la ge ou doo fi es a e he gene a ion o smalle
combus ible agmen s om he o iginal fi e sou ce, e e ed o as fi eb ands. In he case o WUI
fi es, he p oduc ion o fi eb ands occu s om he combus ion dynamics o ege a i e, such as ees
and sh ubs, and human-made uel elemen s, such as homes and o he s uc u es. Fo u ban fi es and
in o mal se lemen fi es, fi eb ands a e p oduced p ima ily om human-made uel elemen s.
Fi eb and combus ion has a se ies o impo an aspec s: ini ial gene a ion o o ma ion om he
combus ion o bo h ege a i e and s uc u al uel ypes, anspo , deposi ion, and igni ion o uel
sou ces gene ally a emo ed he o iginal fi e sou ce. Pos -fi e in es iga ions, o WUI fi es, ha e
epo ed ha fi eb and p ocesses a e esponsible o a majo i y o s uc u e losses in hese fi es
(h ps://link.sp inge .com/ e e encewo ken y/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_46-1).
As pa o his Resea ch Topic in F on ie s in Mechanical Enginee ing, nine pape s we e ul ima ely
accep ed o publica ion. Se e al s udies in his Resea ch Topic a e ocused on fi eb and gene a ion
cha ac e is ics om bu ning ege a ion. In he s udies by Adusumilli e al. and Almeida e al., expe imen s
we e unde aken o be e unde s and fi eb and gene a ion cha ac e is icsa heindi idual eeandsh ub
le el. No ewo hy is he use o ad anced diagnos ics, such as pa icle image elocime y (PIV), o
in es iga e hese gene a ion p ocesses (Almeida e al.). In he wo k o Thomas e al.,field expe imen s
we e unde aken o a emp o couple he fi e dynamics o he fi eb and p ocesses.
Two o he con ibu ed pape s in es iga ed he complex p ocess o fi eb and deposi ion. Mankame and
Sho o ban conduc ed nume ical simula ions a ound simplified flow obs acles and Suzuki and Manzello
conduc ed eal-scaleexpe imen s,inane o o shedligh on hephysicso fi eb anddeposi ion.Fi eb and
deposi ion p ocesses wi hin communi ies emain an a ea ha has been la gely unexplo ed.
Las ly, ou o he con ibu ed pape s all ocused on he p ocesses o igni ion by fi eb ands.
Salehizadeh e al., a emp o de e mine c i ical condi ions o wood igni ion by simula ed fi eb and
Edi ed and e iewed by:
Xinyan Huang,
Hong Kong Poly echnic Uni e si y,
Hong Kong SAR, China
*Co espondence:
Samuel L. Manzello
[email p o ec ed]
Special y sec ion:
This a icle was submi ed o
The mal and Mass T anspo ,
a sec ion o he jou nal
F on ie s in Mechanical Enginee ing
Recei ed: 22 No embe 2021
Accep ed: 04 Feb ua y 2022
Published: 23 Feb ua y 2022
Ci a ion:
Manzello SL, Suzuki S, Viegas DX and
Liu N (2022) Edi o ial: Imp o ed
Unde s anding o Fi eb and P ocesses
Du ing La ge Scale Fi e Disas e s.
F on . Mech. Eng 8:819633.
doi: 10.3389/ mech.2022.819633
F on ie s in Mechanical Enginee ing | www. on ie sin.o g Feb ua y 2022 | Volume 8 | A icle 8196331
EDITORIAL
published: 23 Feb ua y 2022
doi: 10.3389/ mech.2022.819633
piles using small-scale expe imen s. Wang e al.,conside ed
undamen al expe imen s o wood discs o be e unde s and
combus ion p ocesses need o unde s and fi eb and igni ion. In he
wo k o Bean and Blunck, igni ion o bo h solid and po ous su aces
was conside ed. Bea inge e al., ied o look a a ious pa ame e s o
de e mine wha a e he key sensi i i ies o igni ion om fi eb ands.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
SM was in i ed o de elop and lead his Resea ch Topic by
F on ie s in Mechanical Enginee ing. He in i ed and
assembled he eam o gues edi o s. SS, NL, and DV each
se ed as edi o o a ious pape s in he Resea ch Topic.
Conflic o In e es : The au ho s decla e ha he esea ch was conduc ed in he
absence o any comme cial o financial ela ionships ha could be cons ued as a
po en ial conflic o in e es .
Publishe ’s No e: All claims exp essed in his a icle a e solely hose o he au ho s
and do no necessa ily ep esen hose o hei a filia ed o ganiza ions, o hose o
he publishe , he edi o s and he e iewe s. Any p oduc ha may be e alua ed in
his a icle, o claim ha may be made by i s manu ac u e , is no gua an eed o
endo sed by he publishe .
Copy igh © 2022 Manzello, Suzuki, Viegas and Liu. This is an open-access a icle
dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion License (CC BY).
The use, dis ibu ion o ep oduc ion in o he o ums is pe mi ed, p o ided he
o iginal au ho (s) and he copy igh owne (s) a e c edi ed and ha he o iginal
publica ion in his jou nal is ci ed, in acco dance wi h accep ed academic p ac ice.
No use, dis ibu ion o ep oduc ion is pe mi ed which does no comply wi h
hese e ms.
F on ie s in Mechanical Enginee ing | www. on ie sin.o g Feb ua y 2022 | Volume 8 | A icle 8196332
Manzello e al. Edi o ial: Fi eb and P ocesses in La ge Fi es