ELMFIRE - Eulerian Level set Model of FIRE Spread

As part of the Pyrecast project, ELMFIRE is used to forecast the spread of most large fires in the Continental US.The mathematical formulation of ELMFIRE is presented in its original journal article. For additional information, including instructions for how to get started using ELMFIRE, please visit https://elmfire.io.Questions? Contact Chris Lautenberger.

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Last Updated December 10, 2025, 19:36 (UTC)
Created December 9, 2025, 20:51 (UTC)
accessRights <p><span style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">ELMFIRE, the Eulerian Level set Model of FIRE spread, is open-source software Licensed under the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">Eclipse Public License - 2.0</a><span style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">&nbsp;(EPLv2).&nbsp;</span></p>
creationMethod <p><span style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31);">The development of ELMFire (Eulerian Level set Model of Fire spread), an open source geospatial model intended for simulating wildland fire development using an Eulerian level set method, is described in this publication </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2013.08.014" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wildland fire modeling with an Eulerian level set method and automated calibration</a>.</p>
creatorEmail chris@cloudfire.ai
creatorName Chris Lautenberger
creatorWebsite https://elmfire.io/
dataAuthType public
dataType gitrepo
docsURL https://elmfire.io/
doi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2013.08.014
issueDate 2013-08-04
lastUpdateDate 2025-11-30
license other
ndp_creator_md5 79d1ca0f0e497a803003b7dc42c60a08
otherLicense https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
pocEmail chris@cloudfire.ai
pocName Chris Lautenberger
pocWebsite https://elmfire.io/
publisherEmail chris@cloudfire.ai
publisherName Chris Lautenberger
publisherWebsite https://elmfire.io/
purpose <p>ELMFIRE is an operational wildland fire spread model. Some of its common applications include:</p><ul><li>Forecasting spread of fires in real time</li><li>Reconstructing spread of historical fires</li><li>Quantifying landscape-scale potential fire behavior potential</li><li>Estimating annual burn probability and fire severity</li></ul>
selectedCCs "[\"user-cc-cstirm-ucsd-edu-marketplace\"]"
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uploadType code
usageInfo <p><span style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">ELMFIRE’s source code, build scripts/makefiles, documentation, tutorials, and verification &amp; validation (V+V) cases are in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://github.com/lautenberger/elmfire" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">ELMFIRE’s GitHub repository</a><span style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">. Please see the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://elmfire.io/getting_started.html#getting-started" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">Getting Started</a><span style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252);">&nbsp;page for instructions on how to obtain the source code, install prerequisites, set necessary environment variables, etc.</span></p><ul><li>Technical details of the model can be found in ELMFIRE’s&nbsp;<a href="https://elmfire.io/tech_ref.html#tech-ref" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185);">Technical Reference</a>.</li><li>Tutorials are available in ELMFIRE’s&nbsp;<a href="https://elmfire.io/tutorials.html#tutorials" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185);">Tutorials Page</a>.</li><li>Model verification test cases are in the&nbsp;<a href="https://elmfire.io/verification.html#verification" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185);">Verification Guide</a>.</li><li>Model validation simulations are in the&nbsp;<a href="https://elmfire.io/validation.html#validation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(41, 128, 185);">Validation Guide</a>.</li></ul>