DBCA Fuel Age: SW Forest (DBCA-005)

The fuel age dataset is a representation of the years since an area was last burnt or treated (YSLB), and whether this was due to a prescribed burn, bushfire, or other unknown value. The dataset is a derivative of DBCA's Fire History dataset, which contains all records of fires and burns that are either on department managed land, or for which the department has financially contributed.

The fuel age dataset has manipulated and processed the original fire boundary information, and thus should be used as an approximate representation only. Some areas may be represented as younger fuels than they are in reality, and vice versa. For this reason operational staff should maintain a proper awareness of risk and not rely solely on this dataset to determine risk. For statistical or analytical information please use the Fire History dataset that is a raw representation of the input data and only limited by accuracy of the data capture.

There is a separate dataset for each of the forest (Southwest, Swan and Warren) and nonforest (Kimberley, Pilbara, Midwest, Goldfields, Wheatbelt and Southcoast) regions. For further information please contact the data custodian.

Three views of the Fuel Age dataset are present in the DBCA-005 service. The three Fuel Age views show the Year Since Last Burnt grouped into the following categories:

DBCA Fuel Age - SW Forest 1-6+ Years; DBCA Fuel Age - SW Forest 1-20 Years; DBCA Fuel Age - SW Forest 5 Year Groupings.

Data is updated bi-annually, following the Spring and Autumn prescribed burning periods (approximately January and July).