Behave7 Fire Modeling System: A Long Time Coming

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BehavePlus was first developed in 1998 by Pat Andrews, following the success of the DOS version of BEHAVE. Still in use today, there have been six versions, each with upgrades to aid in better calculating fire behavior. The current version of the software is used by thousands of people including students in NWCG courses (e.g., S-390, S-490, and Rx-300); fire personnel in federal, state, and local agencies; university students; and international fire analysts. Over time, computers have evolved, and user needs have changed. In 2020, the Fire Lab was able to obtain money to begin a complete overhaul of BehavePlus. The new system will look radically different. It is designed to be streamlined and flexible, allowing users to more easily navigate and the code to be updated quickly and easily as science improves. In response to countless user requests over the years, the software is designed to be system agnostic. We can finally say “yes” when asked if Behave runs on a Mac! We plan to release the software this spring for testing by the field.