Dr. Chris Lautenberger is President & CEO of CloudFire Inc., a technology company focused on development and deployment of open source wildfire fire spread and risk models to reduce the burden of fire on society. He is a licensed Fire Protection Engineer with expertise in fire science, fire dynamics, fire modelling, and forensic fire reconstruction. Lautenberger’s professional activities involve applying fire dynamics and combustion principles to analyze various aspects of fire and combustion processes, ranging from small-scale smoldering combustion to large-scale wildland fire dynamics. He has published on several aspects of combustion and fire, including flammability, pyrolysis, ignition, fire spread, and fire modeling. Lautenberger has over 20 years of experience applying fire dynamics calculations and fire models in support of scientific research, fire protection engineering design, and forensic fire reconstruction. Chris has developed computer models to analyze trajectories and ignition potential of metallic and woody particles generated by conductor clashing and interactions between vegetation and overhead electrical utilities, wildland fire propagation, and wildland fire risk. Lautenberger has provided expert testimony at deposition and trial on more than 25 occasions on litigation matters related to both wildland and structure fires, including several fires with losses in excess of $100M. Dr. Lautenberger is an Instructor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where he has co-taught Masters-level courses in Fire Dynamics and Fire Modeling.