smokeview is a free application created by the national institute of standards and technology (nist) that can simulate the spread of a fire in any building. there are (at least) three ways to visualize the effect of fire, but only one can be perceived visually at a time: smoke, temperature and flame. to perceive these related phenomena smokeview uses particles, color-coded vectors and animated mesh. not only that, but it’s necessary to cut apart the building being investigated and then find the relevant slice to visualize, as in the section taken at the stove where the townhouse fire is supposed to have started. to get a real impression of everything a fire does, you would have to find all of the critical sections and watch them for the duration of the event.