Open-Source Fire Science
Open-Source Fire Science
The Pyregence project addresses the escalating wildfire risks in California and the Western United States, driven by climate change, past forest management practices, and the expansion of human development near wildlands. The primary goal was to advance wildfire science and develop next-generation wildfire models and decision support tools to enhance the resiliency and safety of California’s electric grid. The project was structured around four workgroups, each focusing on different aspects of wildfire science and modeling, including extreme weather, tree mortality, and near- and long-term wildfire hazard forecasting.
Key achievements included the optimization of weather station placement using novel modeling techniques, the development and enhancement of near-term wildfire risk and spread models, and the creation of PyreCast, an open-source wildfire situational awareness platform. The project also made significant strides in understanding the influence of climate change on fire weather patterns, predicting future wildfire risks associated with a changing climate and with tree mortality and fuels.
Research findings underscore the importance of region-specific adaptation strategies, improved weather monitoring, and the integration of advanced fire behavior models to better predict and manage wildfires. This work provides critical insights and tools that will aid in protecting California’s electric grid and communities from the increasing threat of wildfires.
Developed in response to California’s growing wildfire crisis, Pyregence helps address a critical gap: turning complex fire science into actionable intelligence. From predictive fire spread models to emissions inventories and decision-support dashboards, Pyregence is helping shape a safer, more climate-resilient future.
The benefits of science, models, and applications developed through the Pyregence project for different stakeholder groups include:
The optimization of weather station placement using novel modeling techniques.
The development and enhancement of near-term wildfire risk and spreadh models.
Developed in response to California’s growing wildfire crisis, Pyregence helps address a critical gap: turning complex fire science into actionable intelligence.
The Pyregence Project Team was established through the California Energy Commission’s EPIC program to advance next-generation wildfire science through four specialized working groups led by Dr. Janice Coen (Extreme Weather), Dr. Scott Stephens (Fuels & Fire Behavior), Dr. Chris Lautenberger (Near-Term Simulation), and Dr. LeRoy Westerling (Long-Term Projections), with Dr. David Saah as PI. Their research and collaborative teams delivered the foundational data, models, and tools that continue to inform wildfire resilience efforts across California and beyond.
Alice is a software engineer and PyreCast developer focused on building scientific microservices, bringing experience from early-stage startups where she worked with NLP tools, messaging systems, and large-scale data, and finding fulfillment at SIG through applying her skills and interest in functional programming to wildfire-focused technology.
Andrea Raschke is SIG’s Product Designer, bringing over a decade of visual and product design experience to create functional, user-focused digital tools; she has significantly improved the user experience of PyreCast, and other tools through her expertise in product architecture, design, development, and research, consistently advancing accessibility and UX standards, and holds degrees in visual design, graphic design, programming, and development, including studies at UC Berkeley & AI Product Design at Stanford University.
Andreas F. Prein, PhD, is a Professor of High-Resolution Weather and Climate Modeling at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science (IAC) at ETH Zürich. He holds a PhD in Physics and a Master’s degree in Environmental System Sciences from the University of Graz. His research focuses on understanding physical processes driving changes in extreme weather and climate events, particularly hydrologic extremes, across scales. He is actively involved in international climate science leadership, editorial roles, as well as coordination of kilometer-scale climate modeling initiatives.
Andrew Notohamiprodjo is a Data Scientist and Geospatial Analyst who specializes in applying machine learning and real-time data to environmental and business challenges; he has developed wildfire risk modeling tools for Pyregence, worked on machine-learning–driven computational models at UC Merced, and now supports Delos with advanced analytics and automated reporting systems. He holds a master’s in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara.
Benjamin Sleeter is a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) whose work focuses on land-use and land-cover change, climate change impacts, and natural-resource mapping at regional to global scales. His research supports understanding how shifting land use and climate dynamics influence ecosystems, carbon storage, and wildfire risk — contributing to improved environmental planning and hazard assessment.
For more than a decade, Bryan has served as a primary GIS lead at Sonoma Technology—managing, maintaining, and coordinating geospatial systems; supporting staff and clients as a technical resource; and specializing in spatial data processing, analysis, and visualization to understand links between air quality and human health—while actively contributing to professional GIS communities and grounding his expertise in a BA in Geography from Sonoma State University and an MBA in Environmental Management from Ashford University.
Carrie Levine, PhD, specializes in forest ecology, fire and fuels modeling, natural resource management, and remote sensing/GIS—leading fuels and fire modeling for First Street Foundation’s Fire Factor and supporting California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force—drawing on a PhD from UC Berkeley, prior research roles at UC Davis and Conservation Science Partners, and her contributions to the Pyregence Fuel Mapping and Fire Physics Team integrating forest structure and tree mortality dynamics into next-generation fire prediction models.
Charles is a landscape ecologist with an interest in forest and fire management, with a particular research emphasis on the provision of ecosystem services from forested landscapes. His focus at INR is using forest landscape models to aid in forest management and planning. Recent projects he has participated in have included modelling support (using LANDIS-II) and analysis for the Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership and the Pyregence project. His skillset also includes spatial analyses in R and QGIS, and further information on his research and publications can be found on ResearchGate.
Dr. Chris Anderson builds forest mapping systems to reveal how the world’s ecosystems are changing from space and how people are changing with them, drawing on experience as Science Lead for the Forest Ecosystems team at Planet Labs, co-founder and CTO of conservation technology company Salo Sciences, a PhD from Stanford University’s Center for Conservation Biology, and years spent at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Global Ecology flying with the Carnegie Airborne Observatory to study forests around the world.
Dr. Chris Lautenberger, President & CEO of CloudFire Inc., is a licensed Fire Protection Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in fire science, fire dynamics, fire modeling, and forensic fire reconstruction—developing open-source wildfire spread and risk models; publishing extensively on combustion, ignition, pyrolysis, flammability, and fire modeling; advancing analytical tools for particle ignition, utility-related fire risk, and wildland fire propagation; providing expert testimony in over 25 major fire-related cases; and teaching graduate-level fire dynamics and modeling at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Daniel (Danny) Foster is an ecologist and quantitative analyst with expertise in forests, fire, and carbon, currently working as an Analyst at Moody’s RMS; he brings more than six years of experience in advanced statistical analysis, fuels and forest monitoring, and geospatial modeling—from developing next-generation wildfire sampling protocols and long-term forest datasets at UC Berkeley to conducting carbon and fuel treatment assessments, resilience analyses, and conservation planning—with a PhD in Environmental Science and master’s degree in Forestry from UC Berkeley.
Dr. David Marvin builds satellite-based forest-mapping systems to track global ecosystem change and human impacts, serving as Science Lead for the Forest Ecosystems team at Planet Labs following his tenure as co-founder and CTO of Salo Sciences, and leveraging a PhD from Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology and field experience with the Carnegie Institution for Science.
David Saah, PhD, is Managing Principal and Co-founder of Spatial Informatics Group, Professor and Director of the Geospatial Analysis Lab at the University of San Francisco, and Chair of the NASA Applied Sciences Advisory Committee. An environmental scientist recognized globally for his work in geospatial analysis, remote sensing, wildfire science, and natural hazard modeling, he leads major initiatives including the Pyregence Consortium and the development of wildfire resilience tools such as Planscape, and has advanced multiscale land-monitoring efforts worldwide through integrated geospatial science and open-source platforms. He holds a doctorate in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley.
Delaney Seeburger, a licensed Fire Protection Engineer and Wildfire Modeler, brings over five years of experience in weather analytics, fire spread modeling, and risk management—supporting wildfire mitigation planning, developing fire potential indices, conducting statistical weather analyses at Reax Engineering, collaborating on wildland fire research with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, contributing to fire and life safety work with Jensen-Hughes and the National Park Service, and grounding her technical expertise in a master’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hope College.
Gary Johnson’s, PhD, passion is finding new ways to use advanced computational techniques to solve meaningful environmental problems. Gary specializes in the dynamic modeling of spatially distributed environmental phenomena. He has built a variety of software applications in this domain, including leading the architecture and development of PyreCast. His research interests include simulation modeling, literate programming, functional programming, extreme value statistics, decision support systems, risk assessment and uncertainty modeling, data mining, and machine learning.Gary holds a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Vermont.
Ian Moore is a Fire Ecologist and Co-Director of the Natural Hazards Team at Spatial Informatics Group. He manages and assists projects around California covering wildfire preparedness, wildfire recovery, as well as forest and community resilience. He is experienced in field-based and remote data collection methods and analysis, environmental compliance, and GIS. Prior to joining SIG, Ian worked for several seasons fighting wildland fires with the US Forest Service as an advanced firefighter and squad boss on hotshot, engine, and type 2 hand crews. Ian holds a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in Forestry, both from the Rausser College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley.
Dr. Ilkay Altintas is the Chief Data Science Officer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego and founder of the Workflows for Data Science Center of Excellence. She is passionate about bringing diverse teams together to solve complex problems through collaborative, reusable, and scalable data science. Her work has influenced fields ranging from bioinformatics and geoinformatics to smart cities and manufacturing. A co-creator of the Kepler Scientific Workflow System, Altintas is also a widely recognized educator and award-winning leader in computational and data science.
James Randerson is the Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Professor of Earth System Science at UC Irvine. He studies the global carbon cycle and the role of climate change, land-use practices, and wildfire in shaping ecosystems and the atmosphere. His research blends satellite data, field observations, and modeling, including fieldwork in Alaska and Siberia. Randerson previously served on the faculty at Caltech and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Janice Coen is a leading fire behavior scientist who studies the interaction between wildland fires and weather using computational fluid dynamics, infrared fire analytics, and next-generation coupled weather–fire models she helped pioneer; her work integrates remote sensing, data science, and model–data fusion to decipher large fire events, improve firefighter safety, assess fuel and drought impacts, and advance wildfire growth forecasting, and she also serves as a consultant and expert witness on wildland fire issues.
Jason is the Chief of Operations at Spatial Informatics Group (SIG), where he supports the organization by overseeing Legal, HR, and Finance activities, including compliance, contracting, financial reporting, and internal policy development. He previously co-led SIG’s Natural Hazards Team, guiding wildfire mitigation and assessment efforts across the western United States. Jason earned his BS and MS from UC Berkeley and brings more than 25 years of experience in forestry and fire ecology. He is a Registered Professional Forester, a Certified Wildland Fire Ecologist (AFE), and has worked as a wildland firefighter.
JP Wack leads product and project development for nature-related risk assessment solutions at the intersection of sustainability, technology, and business, building multidisciplinary teams to translate complex environmental science into actionable financial insights, delivering environmental analytics and climate solutions across Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, and driving measurable impact through innovative tools for assessing nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities.
Cobian-Iñiguez’s work focuses on fire behavior. Her work examines basic and applied research questions related to wildfire and wildland-urban interface fire behavior and on the effects of wildfires to people and the environment. In addition, she runs the Cross-Border and Bilingual WUI program, focused on wildfire behavior research across borders and bilingual (Spanish and English) wildfire communications and education.
John J. Battles, PhD is Professor and Rudy Grah Chair of Forestry and Sustainability in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at University of California, Berkeley. He is a forest ecologist studying how forests grow, change, and recover over time — especially under the pressures of climate change, fire, and human impacts. His work combines field research, data science, and ecosystem modeling to understand forest carbon dynamics, disturbance recovery, and ecosystem resilience, informing forest management and climate-resilience strategies at regional and national scales.
John Clarke Mills is the co-founder and CEO of Watch Duty, a nonprofit platform delivering real-time wildfire intelligence to at-risk communities. With a background in software engineering and entrepreneurship, he built Watch Duty by mobilizing volunteers to monitor emergency radio traffic and relay timely public safety information. Previously, Mills was co-founder and CTO of Zenput, guiding the company from startup through acquisition, and held engineering and leadership roles at CNET Networks, Webtrends, and other technology firms. He is a frequent speaker on disaster preparedness and technology for public good.
Jonathan Baldwin is an Information Systems Analyst at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) / University of California, Merced, contributing to long-term wildfire risk modeling as part of the Pyregence Consortium’s Climate Change & Fire Projections Team; he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Alberta and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo.
Jonathan Sam, PhD, is a Hazard and Resilience Scientist at CoreLogic whose work focuses on using statistical modeling, programming, and climate–fire analysis to understand how environmental conditions influence wildfire behavior; he brings research experience from UC Merced, where he earned his PhD in Environmental Systems studying fire–climate interactions, and has applied his expertise to wildfire risk, climate impacts, and resilience modeling across both academic and industry settings.
Justine Bui is a Project Manager at Spatial Informatics Group overseeing climate, California-focused, and environmental software projects, including CARB’s Technology Clearinghouse, the Cal-Adapt Analytics Engine, and mapping tools like Collect Earth Online, drawing on experience in project management, geospatial analysis, and environmental education, and supported by an MBA, a master’s in Environmental Management, a GIS certification from the University of San Francisco, and a bachelor’s in Environmental Systems from UC San Diego.
Katy Beehler, MA, CSM, is a Senior Product Management Lead at Spatial Informatics Group with more than a decade of experience in SaaS product development—guiding product strategy and roadmaps, managing SIG’s enterprise software products, and bringing prior experience in EdTech and publishing—while also serving on the Alameda City Commission on Persons with Disabilities and co-chairing the Robin Seaman Award Committee for Bay Area Women in Publishing; she holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MA from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Kenneth Cheung is a Software Engineer at Spatial Informatics Group who is passionate about building robust, user-friendly applications, including PyreCast and Behave 7, supporting the Natural Hazards, Environmental Mapping, and Forest & Agriculture teams by enhancing access to advanced scientific tools; he brings broad interests spanning web development, AI, and blockchain, a programming foundation from 42 Silicon Valley, and a bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering from SUNY Binghamton.
Dr. LeRoy Westerling is a Professor at UC Merced and a leading expert on climate–wildfire interactions, with research spanning applied climatology, seasonal forecasting, climate change impacts on wildfire and emissions, and simulation modeling for resource management; formerly with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, he has published extensively on wildfire and climate, and holds a BA from UCLA and a PhD from UC San Diego.
Dr. Luca Carmignani received his PhD in Engineering Sciences from the UC San Diego–San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program and has conducted research across UC Berkeley and UC ANR, focusing on material flammability and the environmental conditions that influence fire behavior at multiple scales; his work spans vegetation–structure interactions in WUI fires, plant-trait-driven fire risk, and how ambient conditions and gravity affect flammability, including applications for spacecraft fire safety.
Mariko Geronimo Aydin brings 20 years of experience in electricity system policy and economics, spanning regulation, deregulation, and wholesale market design, and now focuses on adapting planning processes and analytical tools for a rapidly evolving clean-energy landscape by helping clients unlock the untapped potential of customer engagement, advanced data analytics, emerging technologies, and modernized utility business models to build a more flexible, cost-effective, and sustainable electricity grid.
Dr. Matthew D. Hurteau is a fire ecologist and researcher whose work focuses on forest ecology, climate-fire dynamics, and ecosystem resilience, integrating field studies, modeling, and statistical analysis to assess how fire, forest structure, and climate change interact over time and guiding strategies for sustainable forest management and wildfire mitigation.
Dr. Michael Gollner is a fire science researcher with degrees in mechanical engineering from UC San Diego and former faculty in Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland (2012–2019). His work combines experiments, combustion, and fluid dynamics to study fire spread, material flammability, smoke transport, and wildfire phenomena, particularly in the wildland–urban interface. He holds major leadership roles in IAWF, NFPA, and international fire safety organizations, serves on multiple journal boards, and has received several prestigious early-career awards.
Oliver Baldwin Edwards is a Software Engineer at Spatial Informatics Group who brings experience in both research and software development and a passion for creative, data-driven problem solving—particularly in evolutionary computation, machine learning, and natural language processing—and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Statistics from Amherst College, where he was named a Ginsburg Fellow, a McGeoch Fellow, and inducted into the National Honorary Society for Statistics.
Eagle Rock Analytics is led by climate scientist and data analyst, Owen Doherty, PhD. Dr. Doherty received his bachelor of science degree from Cornell University in 2003 and his doctorate in marine and atmospheric sciences from Stony Brook University in 2012. Dr. Doherty is an experienced project manager with scientific expertise in global climate and is comfortable analyzing a wide range of data, from biochemical data to climate models to remote sensing data.
Paul Lackovic is a Geospatial Analyst on the Natural Hazards Team at Spatial Informatics Group with extensive experience in incident GIS and wildland fire operations, having served as an NWCG-qualified GISS on more than 40 major wildfires and led mitigation efforts ranging from CWPPs to parcel-level hazard assessments and pre-attack mapping; motivated in part by losing his home in the 2018 Camp Fire, he is committed to supporting fire-adapted ecosystems and community resilience, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Political Science from SUNY Geneseo.
Phil Dye, founder and CEO of Prometheus Fire Consulting LLC, brings over 25 years of California Fire Service experience to his work specializing in prescribed fire planning, training, and incident management—serving as a Planning Section Chief on California Interagency Incident Management Team 13, leading prescribed fire projects with federal, state, local, and private partners across multiple states, contributing to the development and instruction of the State Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (CARX) program, and operating as a qualified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss, Type 2 (RXB2).
Result-oriented data scientist with 8+ years of experience in environmental engineering and business management to tackle complex sustainability and healthcare challenges. Proficient in data analysis, air pollution and climate modeling, technical writing, and scripting. Enthusiastic leader in managing cross-functional teams harnessing data science tools to foster business growth and environmental sustainability. Proven record of reporting, driving, and monitoring progress on defined goals, ensuring open communication lines with internal and external partners.
Richard (RJ) Shepherd is a Software Engineer at Spatial Informatics Group with more than a decade of experience as a GIS technician and software engineer; he holds a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, a GIS Certificate from Portland State University, and a Data Science nanodegree from Udacity, and currently supports SIG’s Joint Venture with the USFS Missoula Fire Lab to modernize legacy fire modeling software by decoupling scientific analytics and redesigning the UI—beginning with the next-generation overhaul of BehavePlus (Behave 7).
Scott Stephens is a leading fire ecologist whose research explores forest ecology, wildfire behavior, and ecosystem management, with a focus on how fire regimes shape forest resilience and inform sustainable management strategies. He has provided expert testimony on fire and forest policy to federal and state leaders—including the U.S. House of Representatives, the White House, and the California Legislature—served on the 2024 U.S. Wildfire Commission, sits on the Board of the Climate Wildfire Institute, and co-leads The Stewardship Project, a partnership between Indigenous communities and western scientists to improve federal fire policy.
Shane Romsos is Co-director of the Natural Hazards Team, Director of the Tahoe-Sierra Team, and Project Manager for the Pyregence Consortium at Spatial Informatics Group, bringing over 25 years of experience in wildlife biology, natural resource management, GIS, and remote sensing; he leads the CEC-funded Pyregence effort to develop next-generation wildfire models and has managed a wide range of projects in forest carbon, aquatic monitoring, wildfire risk, and habitat assessment, building on prior roles with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the US Forest Service and degrees in Natural Resources and Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University.
ShihMing Huang is the Wildland Fire Smoke Management Specialist for the U.S. Department of the Interior, supporting the department’s Wildland Fire Program. He previously spent 16 years as an air quality scientist in the private sector. Funded by US EPA, NASA, NIH, USDA Forest Service, CAL FIRE, and others, his work advanced understanding of wildfire and prescribed fire smoke and its impacts on air quality and public health. He specializes in integrating monitoring, remote sensing, modeling, GIS, and data analysis to deliver actionable solutions.
Ms. Lavezzo, a senior leader at Sonoma Technology since 1996, coordinates the Fire and Smoke Sciences Program and manages complex litigation service projects—leading wildfire pre-planning and mitigation efforts, overseeing the development of fire science and environmental data tools, and guiding strategic analyses and scientific reporting for regulatory and legal matters, supported by an MBA from Saint Mary’s College and a BS in Chemistry from Sonoma State University.
Teal Richards-Dimitrie serves as Chief of Staff to the Managing Principal at Spatial Informatics Group, bringing a background in herpetology, wildlife and habitat research, and consensus-driven project leadership; she manages key SIG programs—including Planscape, Fire Factor, the Climate and Wildfire Institute partnership, and a Joint Venture with the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station—and draws on prior experience expanding natural resource services and leading ecological data, reporting, and agency coordination efforts, supported by a Master’s in Biological Sciences from Towson University and a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a Chemistry minor.
Thomas Buchholz, PhD, is co-director of the Forests and Agriculture Team at Spatial Informatics Group. Thomas Buchholz, PhD, is co-director of the Forests and Agriculture Team at Spatial Informatics Group. With over two decades of experience in forest management, his focus is on economics, sustainability metrics, wildfire risk, bioenergy, as well as energy and carbon life cycle assessments (LCA). He published extensively on these topics.
Scott Stephens is a leading fire ecologist whose research explores forest ecology, wildfire behavior, and ecosystem management, with a focus on how fire regimes shape forest resilience and inform sustainable management strategies. He has provided expert testimony on fire and forest policy to federal and state leaders—including the U.S. House of Representatives, the White House, and the California Legislature—served on the 2024 U.S. Wildfire Commission, sits on the Board of the Climate Wildfire Institute, and co-leads The Stewardship Project, a partnership between Indigenous communities and western scientists to improve federal fire policy.
Christiana Darlington, JD (Clere Inc.) | Zeke Lunder (Deer Creek Resources, The Lookout) | Andrea Drew (Drew Consulting) | Grace Di Cecco, PhD (Eagle Rock Analytics, NatureServe) | Joe Scott, MS (Pyrologix) | MaryAnne Peters (Reax Engineering) | Kenneth Craig, MS (Sonoma Technology) | ShihMing Huang, MS (Sonoma Technology, National Park Service) | Steve Irwin (Sonoma Technology) | Ashley Conrad-Saydah, MA (Sowing Change Strategies, Vibrant Planet) | Kim Carr, MS (USFS) | Mark Essig (SIG) | Matt Spencer, PE (SIG) | Taro Pusina (SIG, USFS) | Elliot Kuskulis (UC Berkeley) | Brandon Collins, PhD (UC Berkeley, USFS) | Samrajya Thapa, PhD (UC Merced | UC Davis) | Todd Hawbaker, PhD (USGS)