BC Wildfire PSTA Fire Threat Rating
Provincial Strategic Threat Analysis (PSTA) is designed to consistently assess and map potential wildfire threats to values across the landscape (including communities, infrastructure and natural resources) and to integrate different aspects of wildfire hazard and risk.
This polygon dataset was derived from the PSTA threat rating raster by using the Raster to Polygon conversion tool in ArcGIS 10.3. The following describes how the raster feature class was created. The three described data layers (fire density, head fire intensity and spotting impact) were combined using a weighted sum process. Weights were assigned as 30% fire density, 60% head fire intensity (90th percentile) and 10% spotting impact. These weighted values were added together to produce a final fire threat analysis value ranging theoretically between zero to 100. Although the classification scheme theoretically ranged from zero to 100, the highest value in the data was 81. The classes were then scaled to balance out the distribution of values while still maintaining meaningful thresholds of fire density, head fire intensity, and spotting at higher levels. Areas with a final value of zero consisted of areas that had no record of wildfire, were typed as non-fuel (such as alpine rock, glaciers and ocean areas), and were too distant to be at risk of spotting from nearby fuels. Other very low values could occur due to zero values in one or two of the three categories, such as areas of flammable fuels with no record of a large fire burning nearby (i.e. fire density equals zero) or non-fuel areas that are only at a slight risk of spotting. Water bodies were overlaid on the raster and assigned to their own class, -1, which is effectively zero. A private managed forest land and private land mask was applied to the data due to fuel typing limitations in these areas. Each of these were given their own class. private managed forest land is class -2 and private land is class -3. The weighting system integrated the three identified components of fire threat: fire occurrence (fire density); suppression effort and fire impacts (head fire intensity); and spotting. The results of the final Wildfire Threat Analysis were then assigned to 10 classes to produce a detailed map of fire threats throughout British Columbia. These 10 classes represent a subjective best estimate of relative fire threats, taking into account fire occurrence history, predicted fire intensity under extreme conditions, and spotting impact.
Datasets available for download
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Last Updated | October 19, 2025, 23:25 (UTC) |
| Created | October 19, 2025, 23:25 (UTC) |
|
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
|
|
|
Title
Title for the Dataset.
|
BC Wildfire PSTA Fire Threat Rating |
|
Description
A description of the dataset.
|
Provincial Strategic Threat Analysis (PSTA) is designed to consistently assess and map potential wildfire threats to values across the landscape (including communities, infrastructure and natural resources) and to integrate different aspects of wildfire hazard and risk. This polygon dataset was derived from the PSTA threat rating raster by using the Raster to Polygon conversion tool in ArcGIS 10.3. The following describes how the raster feature class was created. The three described data layers (fire density, head fire intensity and spotting impact) were combined using a weighted sum process. Weights were assigned as 30% fire density, 60% head fire intensity (90th percentile) and 10% spotting impact. These weighted values were added together to produce a final fire threat analysis value ranging theoretically between zero to 100. Although the classification scheme theoretically ranged from zero to 100, the highest value in the data was 81. The classes were then scaled to balance out the distribution of values while still maintaining meaningful thresholds of fire density, head fire intensity, and spotting at higher levels. Areas with a final value of zero consisted of areas that had no record of wildfire, were typed as non-fuel (such as alpine rock, glaciers and ocean areas), and were too distant to be at risk of spotting from nearby fuels. Other very low values could occur due to zero values in one or two of the three categories, such as areas of flammable fuels with no record of a large fire burning nearby (i.e. fire density equals zero) or non-fuel areas that are only at a slight risk of spotting. Water bodies were overlaid on the raster and assigned to their own class, -1, which is effectively zero. A private managed forest land and private land mask was applied to the data due to fuel typing limitations in these areas. Each of these were given their own class. private managed forest land is class -2 and private land is class -3. The weighting system integrated the three identified components of fire threat: fire occurrence (fire density); suppression effort and fire impacts (head fire intensity); and spotting. The results of the final Wildfire Threat Analysis were then assigned to 10 classes to produce a detailed map of fire threats throughout British Columbia. These 10 classes represent a subjective best estimate of relative fire threats, taking into account fire occurrence history, predicted fire intensity under extreme conditions, and spotting impact. |
|
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
|
|
|
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
|
|
|
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
|
|
|
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
|
|
|
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
|
2019-12-18 |
|
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
|
|
|
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
|
|
|
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
|
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
|
|
|
License
License used to access the dataset.
|
Access Only |
|
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
|
|
|
Location
Location of the dataset.
|
https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/bc-wildfire-psta-fire-threat-rating |
|
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
|
|
|
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
|
BC Wildfire Service |
|
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
|
Devona Hay |
|
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
|
[email protected] |
|
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
|
|
|
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
|
|
|
Author
Author of the dataset.
|
|
|
Author Email
Email of the author.
|
|
|
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
|
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
|
|
|
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
|
|
|
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
|
|
|
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
|
|
|
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
|
|
|
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
|
|
|
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
|
|
|
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
|
|
|
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
|
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
Version
Version of the datatset
|
None |
|
Source
Source of the dataset.
|
|
|
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
|
|
|
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
|
|
|
Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
|
|
|
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
|
This data was created in 2021 derived from 2020 VRI data. |
|
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
|
|
|
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
|
|
|
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
|
|
|
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
|
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
|
|
|
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
|
|
|
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
|
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
|
|
|
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
|
|
|
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
|
|
|
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
|
|
|
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
|
|
|
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
|
|
|
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
|
|
|
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.
|
0 Comments