How do I enable or disable fire spread on my Minecraft server?

Fire spread is the behaviour where fire in Minecraft jumps from block to block: a lava lake sets a wooden cabin alight, a lightning strike starts a forest fire, and a player with a flint and steel can flatten half a town in minutes. On a server with wooden or wool builds you usually want it off. On Java 1.21.11 and newer (including 26.x) it is controlled by the gamerule fire_spread_radius_around_player: the number of blocks around a player within which fire may spread (default 128; -1 means everywhere, even with no players nearby). Set it to 0 and fire keeps burning where it was lit but no longer spreads and never burns out on its own.

Older versions and Bedrock: up to Java 1.21.10 the rule was called doFireTick and you disabled fire spread with gamerule doFireTick false. In 1.21.11 (December 2025) doFireTick was removed; on newer versions that name returns Incorrect argument for command. Bedrock still uses dofiretick: gamerule dofiretick false. Every gamerule with its old and new name is listed in our overview of Minecraft gamerules and commands.

From the panel console

1. Go to the game panel and click your server.
2. Open the Console tab.
3. Type gamerule fire_spread_radius_around_player 0 in the input bar at the bottom and press Enter.
4. The console confirms with Game rule fire_spread_radius_around_player is now set to 0.

To turn fire spread back on, use gamerule fire_spread_radius_around_player 128 (the default). In the console you type the command without a slash; in-game with one.

In-game

If you are an operator on your server you can do the same in chat: /gamerule fire_spread_radius_around_player 0. No OP rights yet? See how do I OP myself. Gamerules apply per world: if you have several worlds (for example through Multiverse), run the command while standing in the world in question, or use a plugin that supports gamerules per world.

What exactly changes?

• Fire no longer spreads to flammable blocks next to it.
• Existing fire keeps burning forever until you put it out yourself (with water or by breaking the block); it no longer burns out by itself.
• Fire from lava or lightning does not spread and does not affect flammable blocks, so no forest or wooden cabin burns down.
• Netherrack still burns when you light it; that is not spreading.

A common mix-up: fire_spread_radius_around_player is about spreading, not about damage. Players and mobs standing in fire still take damage. If you want that off as well, look at fire_damage (/gamerule fire_damage false; before 1.21.11: fireDamage).

Controlling fire per region instead of server-wide

On a survival server, fire is sometimes wanted (forest fires to clear an area, a small fire in a fireplace) while you absolutely do not want it at spawn. A server-wide gamerule is too blunt for that. With WorldGuard you set the flags fire-spread deny and lava-fire deny per region; outside those regions fire behaves normally. Claim plugins such as GriefPrevention also have a setting to block fire inside claimed land.

Does the setting survive a restart?

Yes. Gamerules are stored in the world file (level.dat; since 26.1: data/minecraft/game_rules.dat) and remain after a restart, a server version update and even after moving the world to another server. They are only lost when you generate a completely new world; set them again then. To check the current value, type gamerule fire_spread_radius_around_player without a value: the console returns the current setting.

Related settings

• mob_griefing (before 1.21.11: mobGriefing): whether creepers and endermen can damage blocks, see disabling mob griefing.
• tnt_explodes (before 1.21.11: tntExplodes) for TNT, see disabling TNT explosions.
• advance_weather (before 1.21.11: doWeatherCycle) if you want to prevent thunderstorms, and therefore lightning strikes, altogether.

Not working, for example because the console does not recognise the command on a modded server? Our team is happy to help through a ticket.