ForeFire

The open-source fire-spread simulator built by CNRS / Université de Corse. I've contributed since 2022 and maintained it since 2025 — on my own time, alongside Pantera.

ForeFire — fire-spread simulation Live inside Pantera

Same C++ engine, in production Feeding Pantera's risk & response modules

What it is

ForeFire is a C++ engine that simulates how a wildfire front actually moves — fed by real wind fields, terrain, and fuel data, not a simplified toy model. It's used by researchers and operational teams to run "what if" scenarios: where does this fire go in the next six hours if the wind shifts. At Pantera, it's the same engine behind our own spread forecasts — turning a confirmed detection into a projected path a brigade can act on.

3D volumetric rendering of the pyroconvective plume and downbursts generated by ForeFire's coupled fire-atmosphere model, simulating the 2017 Pedrógão Grande wildfire in Portugal. — Pedrógão Grande, Portugal — 2017 Fire generates its own weather — modeled, not assumed

Since 2022: Contributor — reviewing and merging PRs, cutting releases.
Since 2025: Maintainer — Dockerization, CI/CD pipeline, Sphinx documentation, and the day-to-day of keeping the project buildable and reproducible.
JOSS paper: Co-author on the project's Journal of Open Source Software paper, the formal citation for the engine.

Get in touch

If you're building something in fire simulation, wildfire, or scientific open-source tooling, write to me.