The Jesusita wildfire in Santa Barbara California: Fire Spread Simulations and Sensitivity Analysis

The Jesusita wildfire in Santa Barbara California occurred in early May 2009 and was driven by intense downslope winds known as “Sundowners”. The fire burned 3536 ha and destroyed or damaged nearly 100 homes. This presentations shows wildfire simulations with FARSITE and HFire models. Both models are driven with surface winds, temperature and humidity from high resolution WRF model simulations. Model simulations of fire perimeter are compared against observations. The presentation discusses the sensitivity of fire spread simulations to WRF surface winds, temperature and humidity with an especial focus on sensitivity to model physics and initial conditions.