MCU14/0106 Appendix H - Bushfire Assessment Report

Noosa Civic Expansion
Bushfire Assessment Report



SPP 1/03 Vegetation                        Occurrence in Site Locality                Fire Behaviour                       Hazard
Community                                                                                                                  Score

Intact acacia forests, with light          Not present.                               Fires infrequent, usually burn           4
grass to leaf litter, disturbed                                                       only under severe conditions,
rainforest.                                                                           relatively slow fires, usually
                                                                                      little ember attack.
Orchards,       farmlands,       kikuyu    Not present.                               Fires very infrequent, slow              2
pastures.                                                                             moving, may be difficult to
                                                                                      extinguish,  frequent    fire
                                                                                      breaks.
Desert lands         (sparse     fuels),   Present.     This vegetation type is       Gaps in fuel - usually slow fire         1
mowed grass.                               represented by some relatively small       spread.
                                           cleared and actively maintained areas
                                           of land to the north, east and west of
                                           the Noosa Civic expansion site.
Intact     rainforest,     mangrove        Potential. Over time this vegetation       Virtually fireproof.                     0
forest, intact riverine rainforest.        type is likely to develop within OS7
                                           Open Space Precinct if fire is actively
                                           excluded from this area. The
                                           vegetation in this area already contains
                                           rainforest    elements      within   the
                                           understory. This fact combined with
                                           the presence of an ephemeral
                                           waterway within OS7 and its future
                                           sheltered position between the existing
                                           Noosa Civic and proposed expansion,
                                           will overtime promote the transition to
                                           rainforest vegetation.

Note: SPP 1/03 Guidelines defines “hazardous vegetation” to be “vegetation communities with a hazard score of 4 or more in Table
A3.1 of Appendix 3.”


3.3              Slope Hazard Assessment
The topography of the Noosa Civic locality is characterised by coastal plains, waterways and wetlands with
some gentle undulations primarily associated with watercourses and remnant Tertiary surfaces +/- Cainozoic
and Mesozoic sediments.
From a bushfire assessment perspective the relevant slopes to consider are those associated with areas of
potentially hazardous vegetation that would be retained within or adjacent to the proposed Noosa Civic
expansion. To determine the relative prevalence of land that would fall into the various slope categories
utilised in the SPP 1/03 Guideline, predominant land grades over a distance of at least 100m were
considered rather than isolated or highly localised variations in slope.
Table 3-3 summarises the slope types present within the Noosa Civic locality and their equivalent hazard
scores as outlined in the SPP 1/03 Guideline.

Table 3-3        Vegetated slope types and their equivalent SPP 1/03 Guideline hazard scores
SPP 1/03 Slope Category                    Occurrence in Site Locality                                                   Hazard
                                                                                                                         Score

Gorges and mountains (>30%)                Not present.                                                                    5
Steep Hills (>20% to 30%)                  Not present.                                                                    4
Rolling Hills (>10% to 20%)                Not present.                                                                    3
Undulating (>5% to 10% slope)              Not present.                                                                    2
Plains (0 to 5% slope)                     Present. The vegetated land adjacent to the Noosa Civic                         1
                                           expansion is all characterised by slopes < 5%.




QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd                                      Version 1                                           3 December 2014
J13041_Bushfire Assessment V1.docx                     Commercial in Confidence                                          Page 6