CALL FOR PAPERS -- SPECIAL ISSUE OF FIRE TECHNOLOGY ON “SCIENTIFICALLY-BASED FIRE INVESTIGATIONS”

ANNOUNCEMENT -- CALL FOR PAPERS

SPECIAL ISSUE OF FIRE TECHNOLOGY ON “SCIENTIFICALLY-BASED FIRE INVESTIGATIONS”

Fire Technology, the journal of the National Fire Protection Association published by Springer, is preparing an issue on fire investigation. The purpose of this special issue of Fire Technology is to communicate the latest advances in science that improve and underpin the methods used in fire investigations. Papers are solicited in all areas of scientifically-based fire investigations. Papers can include technological advances, original research results, methodology development, and case studies with a focus on the fire investigations. Comprehensive fire investigations serve many roles from advancing life safety to identifying responsibility for the allocation of losses or for criminal prosecution. Consequently, fire investigations and analyses can have wide impact and significant consequences, such as death penalty decisions for convicted arsonists.

The science of fire investigations continues to advance in areas of scene documentation, evidence collection and analysis, pattern identification and analysis, reliability of evidence, and the use of tools, such as computer fire modeling. NFPA 921, Guide for Fire & Explosion Investigations, reinforces the use of the scientific method in performing fire analyses, in part by delineating analytical methods that are underpinned by well documented scientific studies versus beliefs/misconceptions passed from one generation of fire investigators to the next.

Submissions accepted until May 30, 2011 at http://fire.edmgr.com/, choose article type “fire investigation”.

Fire Technology is a peer reviewed (double blind) journal. At least two reviewers, maybe three, will evaluate the paper before a publication decision is taken. Immediately after acceptance, papers are available online in "Online First". Later on, when all papers on the special issue have been accepted/published, a hard copy of the issue is printed and distributed.

For questions, contact either of the Guest Co-Editors:
Daniel T. Gottuk, Ph.D., P.E., Hughes Associates, Inc., DGOTTUK@haifire.com
David J. Icove, Ph.D., P.E., University of Tennessee, icove@utk.edu