The Rothermel Model is a framework used to predict wildfire spread rate and intensity based on fuel characteristics, weather conditions, and terrain. Developed by Richard Rothermel at the United States Forest Service in 1972, it remains the most widely used fire spread model for operational applications and serves as a foundational model behind Technosylva’s FireSim.
The Rothermel Model predicts how a fire will spread by analyzing the interactions between fuel, weather, and topography, producing estimates for fire behavior metrics such as Rate of Spread (ROS), Fireline Intensity (FLI), and Flame Length (FL).