Burn severity layers are thematic images depicting severity as unburned to low, low, moderate, high, and increased greenness (increased post-fire vegetation response). The layer may also have a sixth class representing a mask for clouds, shadows, large water bodies, or other features on the landscape that erroneously affect the severity classification. This data has been prepared as part of the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project. Due to the lack of comprehensive fire reporting information and quality Landsat imagery, burn severity for all targeted MTBS fires are not available. Additionally, the availability of burn severity data for fires occurring in the current and previous calendar year is variable since these data are currently in production and released on an intermittent basis by the MTBS project.

The Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) Program assesses the frequency, extent, and magnitude (size and severity) of all large wildland fires (wildfires and prescribed fires) in the conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico for the period 1984 and beyond. All fires reported as greater than 1,000 acres in the western U.S. and greater than 500 acres in the eastern U.S. are mapped across all ownerships. MTBS produces a series of geospatial and tabular data for analysis at a range of spatial, temporal, and thematic scales and are intended to meet a variety of information needs that require consistent data about fire effects through space and time. This map layer is a thematic raster image of MTBS burn severity classes for all inventoried fires occurring in CONUS. Fires omitted from this mapped inventory are those where suitable satellite imagery was not available, or fires were not discernable from available imagery.