Dataset
NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
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Historical Fire Extent and Severity Mapping (FESM) - Statewide 2012-13

Fire severity is a metric of the loss of biomass caused by fire. In collaboration with the NSW Rural Fire Service, the department's Remote Sensing & Regulatory Mapping team has developed a semi-automated approach to mapping fire extent and severity through a machine learning framework based on satellite imagery.

The method uses standardised classes to allow comparison of different fires across the landscape. The FESM severity classes include: unburnt, low severity (burnt understory, unburnt canopy), moderate severity (partial canopy scorch), high severity (complete canopy scorch, partial canopy consumption), extreme (full canopy consumption).

Here we provide statewide historical severity mapping of fires >100ha for the 2012-13 fire year, which is based on Landsat satellite imagery (30m pixels). From 2016/17 to the current fire year is covered in the statewide FESM data, which is based on Sentinel 2 satellite imagery (10m pixels).

Data and Resources

Metadata Summary What is metadata?

Field Value
Language English
Alternative Title FESM - 2012/13
Edition FESMv3
Purpose fire management planning and reporting, landscape and fire ecology research
Frequency of change Not planned
Keywords HAZARDS-Fire,ECOLOGY-Landscape,ECOLOGY-Habitat,VEGETATION
Field of Research (optional) Landscape Ecology,fire,Forestry Fire Management
Metadata Date 2023-11-24
Date of Asset Creation 2025-02-11
License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Geospatial Topic Environment
NSW Place Name NSW
Extent

Dataset extent

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Temporal Coverage From 2012-07-01 - 2013-06-30
Datum GDA94 / NSW Lambert
Legal Disclaimer Read
Attribution NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water asserts the right to be attributed as author of the original material in the following manner: "© State Government of NSW and NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water 2025"