Articles | Volume 25, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2909-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2909-2025
Research article
 | 
28 Aug 2025
Research article |  | 28 Aug 2025

An efficient method to simulate wildfire propagation using irregular grids

Conor Hackett, Rafael de Andrade Moral, Gourav Misra, Tim McCarthy, and Charles Markham

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Cited articles

Abatzoglou, J. T., Williams, A. P., Boschetti, L., Zubkova, M., and Kolden, C. A.: Global patterns of interannual climate–fire relationships, Glob. Change Biol., 24, 5164–5175, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14405, 2018. 
Abdi, A. M.: Land cover and land use classification performance of machine learning algorithms in a boreal landscape using Sentinel-2 data, GISci. Remote Sens., 57, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2019.1650447, 2020. 
Albini, F. A.: Computer-based models of wildland fire behavior: a user's manual, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Ogden, UT, 71 pp., https://www.frames.gov/catalog/8178 (last access: 26 April 2025), 1976. 
Al-Rawi, I.: Implementation of an Efficient Scan-Line Polygon Fill Algorithm, Computer Engineering and Intelligent Systems, 5, 22–28, 2014. 
Andrews, P. L.: The Rothermel surface fire spread model and associated developments: A comprehensive explanation, The Rothermel surface fire spread model and associated developments: A comprehensive explanation, Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-371, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Fort Collins, CO, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 121 pp., https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-371, 2018. 
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This paper reviews existing wildfire propagation models and a comparison of different grid types including random grids to simulate wildfires. This paper finds that grids can simulate wildfires more efficiently than continuous models while still retaining a reasonable level of similarity. It also shows that an irregular grid called the flammable resolution grid tends to retain greater similarity to continuous models than regular grids at the cost of slightly longer computational times.
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