BAER DESCRIPTION OF BURN SEVERITY RANKINGS The appearance and characteristics of the three burn severity levels that are used by Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) scientists and specialist can vary from ecosystem to ecosystem, so it is difficult to give hard-and-fast definitions. There are different kinds of criteria that is reviewed by the BAER team both by air reconnaissance and by on the ground field surveys. Attached to the right, is a PDF document that describes the BAER burn severity