Gazebo Harmonic fire plugin simulates progressive burns and destruction

A new open-source Fire Simulation Plugin for Gazebo Harmonic (Gazebo Sim 8.11.0) is now available, created by Aachal Sharma and Rahul Gupta. Built for ROS 2 Jazzy on Ubuntu 24.04, the plugin replaces the common “instant removal” approach with a realistic, progressive fire lifecycle: fire → heat transfer → ignition → burning → damage accumulation → charring → destruction. Objects gradually heat up, ignite, burn, and eventually collapse, giving researchers fine-grained control over fire range, heat output, ignition thresholds, and damage rates. The system also supports distance- and direction-based fire exposure, so flames affect objects differently depending on their position and orientation relative to the source.

The simulation includes flame, smoke, and particle effects, plus heat propagation that makes the fire spread believably across a scene. Because every parameter is configurable, users can model anything from a small controlled burn to a multi-object warehouse fire. The plugin is designed for robotics simulation in disaster response, search and rescue, hazardous-environment navigation, and fire-aware autonomous systems. The project is fully open-source on GitHub with a demonstration video on YouTube, and the authors are actively seeking community feedback and contributions. This gives robotics developers a free, standards-compatible tool for testing perception and planning algorithms under realistic fire stress.