Aggregated Fire Severity Classes from 1998 onward

Aggregated historic fire severity classification from 1998 onward for wildfires, reclassified using the Level 2 Classification described in the Post fire Burn Classification Procedure SOP v.1.0 (FEMD, 2014). The dataset includes classifications from FIRE_SEV98 to FIRE_SEV09 and specific Victorian fires from 2013 and 2014, with later fires using Level 3 Classification. It is provided by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

Use Cases

• Modeling wildfire recovery patterns based on aggregated severity classes.
• Analyzing temporal trends in fire severity from 1998 onward.
• Mapping the most recent burn severity for a given area.
• Comparing fire severity outcomes between different classification levels (Level 2 vs Level 3).
• Assessing severity in non-forest areas based on the reclassification rules for specific historic fires.

Strengths

• Provides a long-term temporal coverage starting from 1998.
• Uses a standardized, conservative reclassification methodology (Level 2 Classification SOP v.1.0).
• Includes specific, named fire events such as the Grampians victoria valley complex 2013.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description indicates classification methodologies changed over time (Level 2 for older data, Level 3 for newer), which may complicate analysis.

Provenance

Source

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action

Collection Method

Aggregation and reclassification of historic fire severity mapping.

Time Range

1998 onward

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-09 06:19:51.757404; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Focus on Victoria, Australia, with mentions of Grampians, Alpine, Wilson's Promontory, and other regions.