An engineering CFD model for fire spread on wood cribs for travelling fires

•An engineering CFD model for fire spread on wood cribs is demonstrated.•Fire spread characterised at stick-by-stick level with at least 2 × 2 cells.•Global matching of heat release rate, fire spread, burn-away and flame temperatures.•Approximate linear regression between different fire modes and incident radiant heat fluxes.•Heat release rate more sensitive to fire spread than stick burning rate.