Cal Fire Launches Vegetation Burn Severity Viewer

SACRAMENTO — Cal Fire’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP) launched an online Vegetation Burn Severity Viewer today. The new viewer allows users to see how wildfires have impacted vegetation across the state. It illustrates the effects of various California fires, including the 2020 Dixie Fire and North Complex Fire, the 2018 Camp Fire, and the 2020 Loyalton Fire, on forests and landscapes. The tool complies with the requirements of California Senate Bill 1101, which was signed into law in September of 2024.

Cal Fire’s tool displays data for all wildfires over 1,000 acres in California from 2015 to 2023. The agency hopes the information can empower the public to understand post-fire conditions better, support ecological recovery, and plan for future fire resilience. The tool “gives communities data to support efforts to plan prescribed burns, guide restoration work, and reduce future wildfire risk,” according to FRAP Assistant Deputy Director Chris Keithley.

The Burn Severity Viewer serves as an interactive tool. Users can search for fires by name, year, cause, or size. It displays fire perimeters, along with a detailed view breaking down burn severity within a fire’s perimeter. Custom layers can be added to the map, and maps can be downloaded for use in the field. Cal Fire says the map will be updated annually.

Experts from the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, the California Air Resources Board, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Forest Service composed a Technical Advisory Committee guiding the development of the tool. In Phase 2 of the project, Cal Fire aims to deliver downloadable datasets.

The viewer is available at https://tinyurl.com/ys48e5uz. More information about FRAP is available at https://tinyurl.com/2k7m6vhw.