Numerical simulation of forest fires

Abstract This paper reviews the work done to date on the numerical simulation of forest fires. A general model to predict forest fire spread under different conditions is presented and studied. The model is based on n th order reaction theory, and is sufficiently simple and flexible to conveniently deal with variations in wind velocity, forest properties, fire breaks and other phenomena of interest to the fire controller. The effects of changing various parameters in the equations are illustratd. Results for zero and constant wind velocity are given, together with the effect of abrupt wind changes and fire breaks.