Editorial: Special issue on spatial analytical approaches in urban fire management

This collection of papers goes some way towards highlighting the utility of spatial analytical approaches in enhancing our understanding of urban fires and provides an objective overview of the use of such techniques in a range of international contexts. Specifically the papers included in this special issue go some way to conveying the importance of a spatially centred approach to understand the dynamics of urban fires. Such an approach provides the necessary methodological and theoretical means through which a new evidence base for strategic planning and response management for emergency services can be advanced. This new evidence base will in turn have the potential to enhance strategic objectives such as enabling more refined allocation of finite resources, such as targeted community fire prevention activities to particular high-risk locales and social groups, that in turn will minimise operational costs, reduce damage to property, lessen the number of injuries and potentially help save lives.