080623 BlueCare Bushfire Assessment Report_Iss B_screen version.pdf [As Published] · 132008.1128

                                                                                                 Bushfire Protection Assessment
                                                                                                                       BlueCare
                                                                                                Grass Tree Court, Sunrise Beach




2.0       Bush Fire Threat Assessment
2.1       Hazard Assessment Methodologies Employed

The Noosa Shire Council identifies the subject land as bushfire prone land on Councils Bushfire Overlay. In this regard a
detailed bushfire assessment is triggered.


Various methods were used to determined the bushfire hazard for the site including:


      •   The methodology described in A3.8 –A3.20 of the SP01/03 Guidelines.
      •   The site bushfire attack method described in Australian Standard AS3959 - 1999: Construction of buildings in
          bushfire prone areas.
      •   Bushfire modelling for various patches of vegetation on and surrounding the site. Radiant Heat Flux calculations
          were made using the View Factor and Liecester Models;
      •   A qualitative assessment of bushfire attack based on the authors experience.; and
      •   Discussion with Noosa Fire Station Staff.


All findings were ground truthed.


2.2       State Planning Policy Assessment Methodology

The State Planning Policy Guidelines 1/03: Mitigating the Adverse Impacts of Flood, Bushfire and Landslide includes
guidelines for determining the level of bushfire hazard on a site. The method involves the assigning of ‘loading factors’ for
the various components most likely to influence bushfire hazard including vegetation type, slope and aspect.


A loading of 1 to 5.5 equates to a low severity of bushfire hazard, 6 – 12.5 a medium severity of bushfire hazard and 13
or greater a high severity of bushfire hazard. The predominant fire hazard to the north west to south has been assessed
using this method. Most of the vegetation on the site will be cleared as result of the proposal. In this regard this
vegetation will no longer exist to support flaming combustion and therefore has not been assessed. The remaining
vegetation in the adjoining National Park is the vegetation that will support wildfire. In this regard the vegetation type,
aspect and slope of these areas have been used. The adjoining vegetation within close proximity to the site can be
categorised as Wallum Heath for the purposes of the State Planning Policy. Other vegetation structural types such as
woodland and open forest exist nearby however will not significantly influence the fire hazard to the proposed
development.




                                                                                                                              12
                                                      © 23 June 2008
                                                      Reference: 1285