MCU14/0106 Appendix H - Bushfire Assessment Report

Noosa Civic Expansion
Bushfire Assessment Report




3 Bushfire Hazard Assessment
3.1              Overview
The broader Noosa Civic locality supports a mosaic of urban, rural residential, retail, commercial,
agricultural/pastoral and forested landscapes dissected by roadways and coastal waterways.      The Noosa
area is situated in a coastal region of south-eastern Queensland and is characterised by a mild sub-tropical
coastal climate which does not currently experience extended periods of severe fire weather (i.e. extremely
hot and dry periods with strong winds emanating from the continental interior) that are frequently
experienced in Victoria, South Australia and less frequently New South Wales and Tasmania. Nevertheless
bushfires do frequently occur in south-eastern Queensland and present a material hazard to human health
and property which needs to be appropriately considered as part of a comprehensive approach to land use
planning and development assessment.
The Noosa Civic expansion site and adjacent vegetated lands are classified and mapped as:
      > Medium Bushfire Hazard areas on the Noosaville Natural Hazard: Bushfire & Acid Sulfate Soils
        Overlay (Map OM8.4) of the Noosa Plan; and
      > High to Very High Potential Intensity areas on the State Planning Policy’s interactive mapping
        systems bushfire hazard classification scheme.
However it should be noted that the Noosaville Overlay mapping precedes development of the existing
Noosa Civic centre and associated roads and carparks, which have significantly fragmented the area of
native forest surrounding the subject land, hence the above OM8.4 classification is considered to be
conservative.
This bushfire hazard assessment has been prepared in general accordance with the requirements of the
Noosa Plan Natural Hazards Overlay Code, which requires a site specific bushfire hazard assessment to be
prepared in accordance with Appendix 3 of the SPP Guidelines: Mitigating the Adverse Impacts of Flood,
Bushfire and Landslide. In recognition of the scale at which bushfires operate, for the purpose of this
assessment the area considered for assessment of bushfire hazard levels includes all vegetated land
located within 500m of the proposed Noosa Civic expansion.
The SPP 1/03 Guideline identifies three features of the landscape that strongly contribute towards the
behaviour of bushfires, which are described in Table 3-1.

Table 3-1        Bushfire Hazard Landscape Factor Contributions
Bushfire Hazard                      Contribution
Landscape Factor

Vegetation     community             The structure and species composition of vegetation communities determine the rate at
structure  and   species             which dry fuel accumulates. Some vegetation communities protect fuel from drying out in
composition.                         all but extreme bushfire seasons, making the vegetation susceptible to very destructive
                                     bushfires, whilst other vegetation communities may expose fuels to drying and therefore
                                     be frequently available for burning.
Land slope                           As a general rule, bushfire intensity and the rate of spread of bushfires rises in proportion
                                     to slope, with bushfires burning faster and with greater intensity uphill, and slower
                                     downhill. Steeper slopes also increase the difficulty of constructing ring roads and
                                     firebreaks and limit the access for emergency crews.
Aspect                               Aspect affects bushfire hazard due to the effects that exposure to direct sunlight has on
                                     different vegetation communities, including the drying rates of fuels. Aspect also
                                     correlates closely with exposure to low humidity winds that increase bushfire intensity.
                                     The intensity and rate of spread of bushfires tends to be greater on slopes with north to
                                     westerly aspects, although this influence is not considered to be significant on land with a
                                     slope less than 5%.

In order to assess the levels of bushfire hazard associated with a given locality, the area of interest is usually
divided into a number of sub-units, based on:


QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd                                       Version 1                                           3 December 2014
J13041_Bushfire Assessment V1.docx                      Commercial in Confidence                                          Page 4