BUTTE – The executive director of the Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Center says a computer program is possible that would predict the spread of wildfires and aid firefighters in the field.
Earl Dodd says the supercomputer using a program model called Project Landview was able to produce a wildfire simulator.
That program was used by Democratic U.S. Sen. John Tester at town hall meetings on land management.
Dodd says with more money the program could be made into a user-friendly tool for fighting wildfires.
Firefighting agencies rely on historical data, weather conditions and other factors to predict wildfires and deploy firefighters.
Dodd says the supercomputer could run that information and more through a simulator to quickly make wildfire predictions.