FireTools Cloud Results: Fire History and Vegetation Status for NPWS South Coast Reserves

FireTools Cloud results provide processed GIS data for fire management planning in the NPWS South Coast Branch. The dataset includes layers for heritage threshold status, number of times burnt, time since last fire, and strategic fire advantage zones, updated up to 4 times per year. It was developed by the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, a partnership involving the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and several universities.

Use Cases

• Monitor vegetation fire status based on heritage threshold classifications like LongUnburnt and Vulnerable.
• Identify candidate burn blocks for hazard reduction programs based on Time Since Last Fire SFAZ classifications.
• Analyze fire frequency impacts on biodiversity using the Number of Times Burnt raster and vector layers.
• Visualize vegetation groups across the study area using the Vegcode display layer.

Strengths

• Data is updated up to 4 times per year, suggesting regular maintenance.
• Results are explicitly validated as true and correct for reserves within the NPWS South Coast Branch.
• Provides both raster and vector formats for multiple key analysis layers.

Limitations

• Fire history data outside the specified reserves is described as incomplete.
• The Vegcode layer is described as a simple visual display, not a fully attributed vegetation layer.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Processed outputs from the FireTools Cloud web-based GIS environment, which replicates the FireTools II ArcGIS plugin.

Freshness

Updated up to 4 times per year; last metadata update was 2026-05-12.

Geography

Reserves within the NPWS (National Parks and Wildlife Service) South Coast Branch, New South Wales, Australia.