Spatially explicit model of fire spread in the city is a necessary background for estimating fire risks and establishing firefighting strategy and tactics. We develop CIFER – an agent-based city-scale model of the fire spread that simulates fire expansion within a building and fire transmission between buildings.

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We apply our model to the Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern cities, where most of the buildings are non-flammable. The spread of fire within a building strongly depends on the floor structure, location of the corridors and staircases and number, size and location of doors and windows. Fire spread between buildings critically depends on the properties and pattern of urban vegetation that fills the space between buildings and, in the summer, is dry and very flammable.