Open-Source Fire Science
Open-Source Fire Science
The Pyregence Consortium was born out of the California Energy Commission–funded project to advance open-source wildfire science and forecasting tools for California. Today, Pyregence continues as a dynamic collaboration of scientists, engineers, and institutions committed to building the next generation of wildfire intelligence. Beyond its original mandate, the Consortium now connects research, technology, and applied innovation across multiple sectors while expanding partnerships, integrating new data and models, and translating cutting-edge science into actionable solutions for wildfire resilience. Though Pyregence is not a legal entity, it remains a powerful, evolving network united by a shared mission to make wildfire science open, collaborative, and impactful for communities worldwide
The Pyregence Consortium exists to bridge science and decision-making. Our principles ensure that wildfire solutions are built with integrity, inclusivity, and rigor by leveraging the collective power of diverse expertise to meet the demands of a changing climate. The Consortium is an affiliation, not a formal organization.
All Consortium work adheres to open-source, open-science values. Projects and publications must be developed collaboratively and transparently, with shared data, methods, and results. All data and tools aim to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, maximizing usability and collaboration across sectors and disciplines.
The Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) manages governance, maintains Consortium records, and facilitates updates to members, projects, and publications. SIG also ensures that guiding documents are always publicly accessible.
The Pyregence Consortium is a collaboration of scientists, practitioners, and institutions working together to advance open wildfire science for the public good. Originally formed through a California Energy Commission EPIC grant, the Consortium continues to evolve as a hub for transparent, scalable, and policy-relevant wildfire research.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.