Ignitibility of Structural Wood Products Exposed to Embers During Wildland Fires: A Review of Literature

Published

April 27, 2021

Author(s)

Shonali Nazare, Isaac T. Leventon, Rick Davis

Abstract

Ignitability of structural components due to ember accumulation is a common cause of structural fires in wildland urban interface (WUI) communities. To fire harden structures in WUI communities, it is important to quantitatively predict the ember ignitability of wooden substrates. To commence this effort, past studies have been compiled and analyzed to identify knowledge gaps. Key topics including ignition of structures in WUI fires, measurement of thermal response of solid wood products used in residential structures, controlling mechanisms in ignition and sustained smoldering of wood, measurement of ember properties, real-scale and bench-scale experiments on assessing ember ignitability of structural components, and surrogate ignition sources for assessing smoldering propensity of the wooden substrate have been reviewed. Existing test methods have also been reviewed in the light of common exposures seen WUI environment.

Citation

Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2153

Report Number

2153

NIST Pub Series

Technical Note (NIST TN)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2153

Local Download

Keywords

Smoldering, embers, wildland Urban Interface Fires, surrogate ignition sources, structural ignitions, test methods, real-scale tests, bench-scale tests

Citation

Nazare, S. , Leventon, I. and Davis, R. (2021), Ignitibility of Structural Wood Products Exposed to Embers During Wildland Fires: A Review of Literature, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2153, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=931279 (Accessed October 8, 2025)