Modeling wildland fires : A description of the Coupled Atmosphere-Wildland Fire Environment model (CAWFE)

CAWFE is comprised of a numerical weather prediction model and a fire behavior module, two-way coupled such that atmospheric conditions, along with fuel properties and terrain slope, determine how fast and in what direction a fire spreads. The heat released by the fire in turn affects the wind in its vicinity, notably producing fire winds.

The atmospheric model is a nonhydrostatic numerical weather prediction model designed to work at high resolutions (hundreds of meters) in complex terrain. At the surface, each atmospheric grid cell is further divided into two-dimensional fuel cells. The fire module represents a surface fire and a crown fire traveling through tree canopies.