Old towns like Lijiang have enormous historic, artistic, and architectural value. The buildings in such old towns are usually made of highly combustible materials, such as wood and grass. If a fire breaks out, it will spread to multiple buildings, so fire spreading and controlling in old towns need to be studied. This paper presents a fire spread model for old towns based on cellular automaton. The cellular automaton rules were set according to historical fire data in empirical formulas. The model also considered the effects of cli-mate. The simulation results were visualized in a geography information system. An example of a fire spread in Lijiang was investigated with the results showing that this model provides a realistic tool for predicting fire spread in old towns. Fire brigades can use this tool to predict when and how a fire spreads to minimize the losses. Old buildings like Lijiang have enormous historic, artistic, and architectural value. The buildings in such old towns are usually made of highly combustible materials, such as wood and grass. If a fire breaks out, it will spread to multiple buildings, so fire spreading and controlling in old towns need to be studied. This paper presents a fire spread model for old towns based on cellular automaton. The cellular automaton rules were set according to historical fire data in empirical formulas. The model also considers the effects of cli-mate An example of a fire spread in Lijiang was investigated with the results showing that this model provides a realistic tool for predicting fire spread in old towns. Fire brigades can use this tool to predict when and how a fire spreads to minimize the losses