Enhanced Atmosphere-Wildland Fire Modelingwith WRF-Firetec: A Physics-Based Fire Model

Wildland fires are complex phenomena influenced by various environmental conditions. In recent years, these fires have become more severe and frequent, posing significant challenges to wildfire management and mitigation efforts. Accurate prediction and understanding of wildland fires requires sophisticated modeling that integrates fire behavior with weather dynamics. This study introduces WRF-Firetec, a novel coupled model that combines the physics-based wildland fire model HIGRAD/FIRETEC, with the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. WRF-Firetec leverages the detailed fire behavior simulation capabilities of HIGRAD/FIRETEC and the sophisticated weather forecasting abilities of WRF. This integration enables a comprehensive analysis of fire-weather interactions, offering valuable insights into how meteorological conditions influence fire behavior and vice versa.

In this presentation, we introduce the development and implementation of WRF-Firetec and present preliminary results from test simulations. The WRF-Firetec adapts physics-based fire processes as a fire module that is two-way coupled with the atmospheric model. To accurately resolve fire-scale processes (on the order of meters), some dynamic processes from HIGRAD/FIRETEC are adapted. Preliminary results, considering a flat and uniform grass fuelbed, demonstrate that the coupled model accurately simulates fire behavior. Future research will focus on refining the model, validating it with real fire events, and exploring its application in climatological and environmental studies. The development of WRF-Firetec marks a significant advancement in wildland fire modeling, offering a powerful tool for enhancing wildfire prediction and management.