Software for Predicting Wildfire Behavior

Emxsys is the home of the CPS Wildfire Management Tool (WMT), a software program that predicts the potential behavior of a wildland fire so that firefighting strategies can ensure the safety and effectiveness of firefighters. WMT is free!

WMT is developed by Bruce Schubert and it is based on The Campbell Prediction System (CPS) by Doug Campbell and augmented by Marc Castellnou. WMT merges the art of wildland firefighting and the science of fire behavior—it couples the language and logic of The Campbell Prediction System with the fire spread equations developed by Richard Rothermel.

Software Features

View your area of interest on 3D aerial imagery or topographic maps or street maps
Explore the Campbell Prediction System's alignment of forces concepts
Observe Rothermel fire spread computations for any place on the terrain
Understand the fire environment and fire behavior through simplified graphics

Wildfire Mangement Tool Web Edition : WMTweb

First Place Award in NASA World Wind Europa Challenge 2015!

WMTweb made its debut at the FOSS4GE conference in Como, Italy and it won first place among the professional entries in the NASA World Wind Europa Challenge. This exciting new web application introduces new wildland fire behavior symbology. It is designed to run in your mobile or desktop web browser. You can get more information about this new application at the WMTweb Wiki, including videos and links to the prototype application. Check it out!

The following presentation was given to the Southern California Government GIS User Group in September 2015. This technology prevew shows you some the capabilties of the Wildfire Management Tool - Web Edition.

Wildfire Management Tool - Using NASA Web World Wind to Predict Wildfire Behavior from emxsys

Wildfire Mangement Tool Desktop Edition : WMT

NASA World Wind Europa Challenge 2013 Award Winner!

NASA Europa Challenge 2013 Award Picture

The Wildfire Management Tool was an award winner in the 2013 NASA World Wind Europa Challenge! The software introduced a new vision for analyzing and predicting wildfire behavior. Instead of presenting a static display, the software animates the paths that fire would take through the terrain via "comet trails". You can see a "highway of fire" where there is a high density or concentration of paths. Areas with slowing paths are good for safety and present "windows of opportunity" for breaking the highways.

The following slide deck was presented at the NASA World Wind Europa Challenge Summer School in Como, Italy, September 19-21, 2012. These slides will provide you with an overview of the Wildfire Management Tool and show you where the software can be extended.

For more information on how you can contribute to the Wildfire Management Tool or for insights on how you can leverage the Emergency Management Geomatics framework in your project, please contact Bruce Schubert.