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

                                                                                                   Bushfire Protection Assessment
                                                                                                                         BlueCare
                                                                                                  Grass Tree Court, Sunrise Beach




Table 1: SPP Assessment Methodology




Element                        Adjoining Area of                  Comment
                               National Park to the Site


Vegetation                     Wallum Heath            6          RE12.2.15, RE12.2.13 and 12.2.9 and RE12.2.12.

Community


Slope                          Plain 0 – 5%            1          The bulk of the vegetation is located under a flat plain.


Dominant Aspect                East to South           0          The site has a slight westerly aspect, however the fuel
                               and all land                       (vegetation) presenting the fire hazard is flat and therefore has
                               under 5% slope                     no aspect.


TOTAL                                                  6          A total of 6 indicates a Medium Bushfire
                                                                  Hazard




2.3      AS3959 Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas

The Australian Standard for Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas has its own methodology for the
assessment of categories of bushfire attack. Bushfire attack categories under the Standard include low, medium, high
and extreme. The Australian Standard is currently under review and will include a much more sophisticated method of
assessing bushfire attack class and levels of building construction.


The proposed development has a setback of approx 10 - 15m from the adjoining heathland vegetation. Heathland
vegetation is categorised as Low Shrubs (Group 16 – Closed Heath) and Tall Shrubs (Group 13 - Open Scrub) under the
standard. The slope is rated as less than 10 degrees.


Based on the abovementioned parameters and using Table 2.1 – Determination of Category of Bushfire Attack for a Site,
the category of Bushfire Attack is extreme for building sites within 15m of the tall scrub and high within 15m of the low
scrub. This would necessitate the provision of a level 3 std of construction for extreme sites and a level 2 std of
construction for the high sites.


The existing Australian Standard assessment methodology is now typically regarded as deficient by bushfire experts and
more appropriate methods of determining construction requirements such as empirical bushfire models are available.
The revised Australian Standard will address these issues. The revised std should be released within a year.




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                                                    © 23 June 2008
                                                    Reference: 1285