Changes in both the way prescribed burning is conducted and the environment of the fire management business have led to the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, SA (DEWNR) developing the Fire Information Management System (FIMS) to meet current and future business needs.  FIMS is a browser-based system which provides functionality to assist in planning and implementing the Prescribed Burn program rather than just reporting on it. It provides a consistent approach to environmental assessment, operational planning and risk assessment of prescribed burns across South Australia.

Key outcomes that FIMS is now providing to the Fire Management Program in DEWNR:

·          Improved adherence to fire management policies and procedures

·          Consistent and current recording, reporting, reviewing and updating of information on prescribed burns

·          A single source of truth for burn planning documents and utilisation of authoritative corporate datasets

·          Improved data sharing of statistics and reports to be available to users that are internal and external to DEWNR (e.g. SA Country Fire Services, webpages, internal reporting)

·          Provides a system to assess, record and manage environmental assessments for planning prescribed burns

·          Provides a system to plan, manage and control the operational implementation of the prescribed burn program

·          Provides an overview of Prescribed Burn programme progress  

An outline is presented of the environmental assessment and burn planning component of FIMS, an aspect of prescribed burn planning that takes considerable time and effort in South Australia.  The overall functionality of FIMS is demonstrated and evaluated.