--- title: Bushfire and prescribed burn history, South Australia resource: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/ publisher: Department for Environment and Water licence: CC BY 4.0 licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ version: 2026-07-10 rows: 6968 fields: 14 source: https://www.waterconnect.sa.gov.au/Content/Downloads/DEWNR/FIREMGT_FireHistory_shp.zip source_sha256: 77ac00fe1b69fb764fd1061ad20f0c8d807a407e669091d59ba74ec794bc7574 language: en-AU operator: National Digital not_endorsed: true --- # Bushfire and prescribed burn history, South Australia The mapped extent of major bushfires and of prescribed burns on state-managed land in South Australia, one shape per fire scar with its date, type and area. Published by Department for Environment and Water under CC BY 4.0 and republished here in other formats, with cells typed and suppressed values made null. Department for Environment and Water has not endorsed this site. Also called: SA fire history, Bushfires and Prescribed Burns History, South Australian fire scar mapping, DEW fire history shapefile. ## Download Latest version, redirects to `https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/`: - csv: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.csv (807 KB) - xlsx: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.xlsx (521 KB) - json: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.json (2.4 MB) - geojson: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.geojson (171 MB) - parquet: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.parquet (60 MB) - sqlite: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.sqlite (762 KB) - duckdb: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.duckdb (600 KB) - gpkg: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.gpkg (72 MB) - pmtiles: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.pmtiles (9.1 MB) - ndjson: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.ndjson (2.4 MB) - arrow: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.arrow (249 KB) - csv.gz: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.csv.gz (163 KB) Pinned version 2026-07-10: `https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/data.`. Dated versions never change. ## Query The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Rows: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/sa-fire-history/rows. Counts and sums: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/sa-fire-history/aggregate. - Rows: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/sa-fire-history/rows?incident_type=eq.Bushfire&limit=5 - Aggregate: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/sa-fire-history/aggregate?group=season&metric=count&incident_type=eq.Bushfire Each filter is `field=operator.value` in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive except with `ilike`. Prefix `not.` to negate a filter, as `not.eq.value`. Operators: `eq.value`, `neq.value`, `gt.value`, `gte.value`, `lt.value`, `lte.value`, `like.*text*`, `ilike.*text*`, `in.(a,b,c)`, `is.null`. - `select`: Fields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent. - `order`: `field.asc` or `field.desc`, comma-separated. The publisher's row order when absent. - `limit`: Rows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent. - `offset`: Rows to skip. The `next` URL in each answer sets it for you. - `group`: On `aggregate`, fields to group by, comma-separated. - `metric`: On `aggregate`, `count`, `sum.field`, `avg.field`, `min.field` or `max.field`, comma-separated. `count` when absent. - `format`: `json`, `ndjson` or `csv`. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers. Without a version the API answers from the newest loaded version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put `versions//` before `rows` or `aggregate` for an answer that never changes. `/api/v1/datasets//versions` lists the loaded versions. The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a `Retry-After` header, a `RateLimit-Policy` header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same `RateLimit-Policy`. A client should wait the `Retry-After` seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. OpenAPI for this dataset: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/openapi.json ## Explore Charts and dashboards in the browser: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/explore/. A dashboard can be shared as a link or embedded. ## Fields | field | type | publisher's header | note | |---|---|---|---| | `incident_number` | integer | INCIDENTNU | The publisher's incident number, or 0 where none is on record. | | `incident_name` | string | INCIDENTNA | | | `incident_type` | string | INCIDENTTY | Bushfire or Prescribed Burn. | | `fire_date` | date | FIREDATE | | | `financial_year` | string | FINANCIALY | | | `fire_year` | integer | FIREYEAR | | | `season` | string | SEASON | | | `date_reliability` | integer | DATERELIAB | The publisher's code for how reliable the fire date is. | | `image_information` | string | IMAGEINFOR | The satellite or aerial imagery the scar was mapped from, as the publisher wrote it. | | `feature_source` | integer | FEATURESOU | | | `capture_method` | integer | CAPTUREMET | | | `capture_source` | integer | CAPTURESOU | | | `comments` | string | COMMENTS | | | `hectares` | number | HECTARES | | ## Versions - 2026-07-10: 6968 rows, 14 fields, sha256 77ac00fe1b69. https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/ Machine-readable: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/versions.json, https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/changes.json, https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/datapackage.json, https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/schema.json, https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/history.tar.zst ## Same subject, other publishers - [2003 Canberra bushfire burn area and property damage](https://publicdata.au/d/act-2003-bushfire/) (ACT) - [Current bushfire incidents and warnings, Queensland, daily snapshot](https://publicdata.au/d/qld-bushfire-incidents-current/) (Qld) - [Daily water storage levels, Australian dams and reservoirs](https://publicdata.au/d/au-water-storage-levels/) (Cth) - [Bushfires NT brigade and office locations](https://publicdata.au/d/nt-bushfire-brigade-locations/) (NT) - [Daily storage volume of Melbourne Water's dams, 1940 to 2020](https://publicdata.au/d/vic-melbourne-water-daily-storage/) (Vic) - [Monthly water storage levels, Victoria](https://publicdata.au/d/vic-water-storage-levels/) (Vic) - [Beach Report enterococci samples, Port Phillip Bay, since 2013](https://publicdata.au/d/vic-beach-report-enterococci/) (Vic) - [Air quality monitoring by hour, ACT](https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/) (ACT) - [Lakes and rivers water quality samples, ACT](https://publicdata.au/d/act-lakes-rivers-water-quality/) (ACT) - [Recreational lakes and rivers water quality, ACT, 2019-20 season](https://publicdata.au/d/act-recreational-water-quality-2019-20/) (ACT) - [Recreational lakes and rivers water quality, ACT, 2018-19 season](https://publicdata.au/d/act-recreational-water-quality-2018-19/) (ACT) - [Police, fire, ambulance and SES stations, Australia](https://publicdata.au/d/au-emergency-services-facilities/) (Cth) ## Attribution and citation Department for Environment and Water, Government of South Australia, Bushfires and Prescribed Burns History, https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/fire-history, accessed 3 October 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0. The licence requires the publisher's attribution. We ask that you also name publicdata.au and link to the version you used. Plain text: Department for Environment and Water, Government of South Australia, Bushfires and Prescribed Burns History, https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/fire-history, accessed 3 October 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/ Harvard: Department for Environment and Water (2026) Bushfire and prescribed burn history, South Australia, version 2026-07-10 [data set], CC BY 4.0, sourced 3 October 2026. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au. Available at: https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/ Markdown: Data: [Bushfire and prescribed burn history, South Australia](https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/fire-history), Department for Environment and Water, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), sourced 3 October 2026. Files: [publicdata.au](https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/) by [National Digital](https://nationaldigital.com.au/). ## Questions ### How do I download Bushfire and prescribed burn history as a CSV file? Open https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, GeoJSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, GeoPackage, PMTiles, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same. ### Can I open Bushfire and prescribed burn history in Excel? Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 6,968 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/sa-fire-history/v/2026-07-10/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size. ### What years does Bushfire and prescribed burn history cover? The current version covers 1931 to 2025. Each release from Environment and Water becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online. ### How often is Bushfire and prescribed burn history updated? Environment and Water releases it when the publisher maps new fires. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes. ### Can I use Bushfire and prescribed burn history commercially? Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file. ### Is this the official source for Bushfire and prescribed burn history? No. The publisher is Department for Environment and Water, and its page is https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/fire-history. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.zip with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared. ### What coordinate system does Bushfire and prescribed burn history use? Shapes in GDA2020 (EPSG:7844), from the GDA2020 layer the publisher ships beside a GDA94 copy. The GeoJSON file uses GDA2020 as well, which differs from the WGS84 GeoJSON expects by well under a metre. ### What is in each row? One mapped fire scar, the area burnt by a bushfire or a prescribed burn, with its incident name and number, the fire date, financial year, calendar year and season, the area in hectares, and the publisher's codes for how reliable the date is and how the shape was captured. The shape itself is in the GeoParquet, GeoJSON, GeoPackage and PMTiles files. ### Does it cover every fire in South Australia? No. The Department maps major bushfires across the state and prescribed burns on land managed by state agencies. It says the mapping may be incomplete for a given reserve or region, and burn-offs on private land are left out. ### Why is the incident number 0 in some rows? The publisher writes 0 where a fire has no incident number on record. Every fire before 2000 has 0, and so do about two in three bushfires since then. Most prescribed burns since 2000 carry a number. The value is kept as published. ## What this site did to the data Cells were typed, headers were renamed to snake_case and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. Nothing is derived. The publisher's file is beside every version as `source.zip`. ## Improve this dataset This page is built from [register/sa-fire-history.yaml](https://github.com/National-Digital/publicdata.au/blob/main/register/sa-fire-history.yaml) on GitHub, and a fix to it is welcome as a pull request. https://publicdata.au/contribute/ explains how.