Southeast FireMap Burned Area Datasets

The Southeast FireMap (SEFM) project is a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Tall Timbers Research Station that aims to improve burned area mapping across the southeastern United States. Tracking prescribed fires and wildfires is essential for effective wildfire risk mitigation, natural resource management, and landscape conservation across both public and private lands in the Southeast. The SEFM project aims to provide high-resolution, remotely-sensed data products that support site-specific management decisions, improve understanding of fire patterns, and deliver accessible data tools to enhance fire management, conservation, and public safety efforts. Two sets of Southeast FireMap burned area products are available:

The Southeast FireMap Landsat Annual Burned Area Products provide annual maps of burned area for the southeastern United States for 1994 through 2025 using a combination of Landsat TM (5), Landsat ETM+ (7), and OLI/TIRS (8) sensors. The Landsat-based product represents a modified version of the CONUS-wide Landsat Burned Area Products, with altered burn detection criteria and processing to improve regional mapped accuracy of small, prescribed fires and wildfires common across the Southeast. 

The Southeast FireMap Landsat Fire History Metrics consolidate and summarize the annual burned area products to produce a series of contempory fire history metrics. These metrics provide information on spatial and temporal patterns of fire activity, including fire frequency, time since last burn, year of last burn, longest fire-free interval, and average fire interval length.