The burn injury hazard of fabrics has been conceptually related to laboratory test methods. The relation is to be derived from the description of the relevant processes which lead to burn injury. Among these processes stand out the ignition, the burn and the tissue denaturalization processes as predominately deterministic because of predictable fabric response.Presented here are the results of an experimental and analytical investigation into the fabric ignition process. Thermophysical fabric properties relevant to the description of the ignition process have been presented. Fabric ignition times were measured under radiative heating. Modeling rules for the ignition process are presented.