Effect of prescribed burning on wildfire severity: a landscape-scale case study from the 2003 fires in Victoria

Abstract

This study examined the effect of previous fuel reduction burning (FRB) on the severity of the >1 million ha 2003 Alpine Fire in eastern Victoria. Sixty-five paired observations (130 total) of fire severity were completed across the broad fire area using GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis. Despite the broad scatter in this large data set, a number of strong trends were evident. A Fire Severity Index (FSI) was calculated from the correlated fire, weather and topographic variables, with a three-factor model using the forest fire danger index (FFDI), fire or FRB age and percentage of north-western aspect, best explaining the variation in measured fire-severity data. The most important..