Cell2Fire: A family of growth fire simulators.
Why do we need this tool?
Cell2Fire is needed to support effective wildfire prevention and landscape management by identifying where interventions can achieve the greatest reduction in wildfire risk. By simulating fire spread under different fuel, weather and management scenarios, it enables the evaluation and optimisation of fuel treatments and firebreak networks. Its integration with forest growth models and decision-support tools allows managers to assess the long-term effectiveness of management strategies, improve resource allocation and develop more resilient landscapes.
Free description
Cell2Fire is a spatially explicit wildfire simulation framework designed to support strategic and tactical decisions in wildfire prevention and forest management. It simulates fire growth and spread across landscapes, considering vegetation and fuel characteristics, topography, weather conditions and ignition locations. The Cell2Fire family incorporates different fire behaviour models adapted to regional conditions, including Cell2Fire Prometheus (Canada), Cell2Fire Scott and Burgan (Spain–USA), and Cell2Fire Kitral (Chile).
A key strength of Cell2Fire is its flexibility to integrate with forest growth models, decision-support systems and optimisation tools. This enables the evaluation of how alternative forest management strategies influence fuel conditions and wildfire behaviour over time, linking wildfire risk assessment with long-term landscape planning.
Through multiple wildfire simulations, Cell2Fire generates spatial indicators such as burn probability, fire intensity and potential exposure. These outputs help identify priority areas for wildfire prevention, assess the effectiveness of fuel treatments and design strategic firebreak networks.
When combined with optimisation methods, Cell2Fire supports the selection and spatial allocation of management interventions to maximise wildfire-risk reduction under budget, area and operational constraints. This approach helps evaluate trade-offs between management alternatives, improve resource allocation and develop more effective, climate-resilient forest landscapes.
What does this tool?
Cell2Fire simulates how wildfires ignite, spread and develop across landscapes under different weather, vegetation and fuel conditions. By running multiple fire simulations, it produces maps of burn probability, fire intensity and other wildfire-risk indicators. These results allow users to compare management scenarios, identify priority areas for fuel reduction, evaluate the effectiveness of proposed treatments and design strategic firebreak networks. Combined with optimisation tools, Cell2Fire helps determine where and how much to intervene to achieve the greatest wildfire-risk reduction with available resources.
Demo/Presentation:
Authors: Carrasco-Barra, J., González-Olabarria, J.R., Mahaluf, R., de la Barra, F., Espinoza, C., Badilla, F., Garcia-Gonzalo, J., Weintraub, A
Contact:
Dissemination page:
Development page: https://fire2a.github.io/C2F-W/index.html
Tutorials or publications:
Pais C, Carrasco J, Martell DL, Weintraub A and Woodruff DL (2021) Cell2Fire: A Cell-Based Forest Fire Growth Model to Support Strategic Landscape Management Planning. Front. For. Glob. Change 4:692706. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2021.692706
Gonzalez-Olabarria, J.R., Carrasco, J., Pais, C., Garcia-Gonzalo, J., Palacios-Meneses, D., Mahaluf-Recasens, R., Porkhum, O., Weintraub, A., 2023. A fire spread simulator to support tactical management decisions for Mediterranean landscapes. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 6, 1071484. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1071484
Carrasco-Barra, J., González-Olabarria, J.R., Matus-Olivares, C., Ulloa-Fierro, F., Soto, F., Palacios, D., Mahaluf, R., de la Barra, F., Espinoza, C., Vilches, M., Rivas, M., Badilla, F., Gilabert, H., Castillo, M., Saavedra, J., Lisón, F., Garcia-Gonzalo, J., Weintraub, A., 2026. New extensions of Cell2Fire software for fire risk analysis and evaluation in Chilean forests. Environmental Modelling & Software 203, 107009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107009.
Carrasco-Barra, J., González-Olabarria, J.R., Matus-Olivares, C., Ulloa-Fierro, F., Soto, F., Palacios, D., Mahaluf, R., de la Barra, F., Espinoza, C., Vilches, M., Rivas, M., Badilla, F., Gilabert, H., Castillo, M., Saavedra, J., Lisón, F., Garcia-Gonzalo, J., Weintraub, A., 2026. New extensions of Cell2Fire software for fire risk analysis and evaluation in Chilean forests. Environmental Modelling & Software 203, 107009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107009.