Reference Document - 152000.200053.3 - Bushfire Fire Risk Assessment (As Published)

Bushfire Risk Assessment v3                                                                                     NCES REF: J001433
Select Areas of Noosa Springs Residential Estate, Noosa Heads



3         HAZARD ASSESSMENT

3.1       Hazard Assessment Methodology
The SCRC Planning Scheme requires that a site-specific bushfire hazard assessment be prepared
to assess the degree of bushfire hazard acting on a development site captured within a mapped
Designated Bushfire Hazard Area. The SPP Bushfire Prone Area mapping prevails over the SCRC
Bushfire Hazard Area mapping with respect to the currency of the methodology adopted to prepare
the mapping. Accordingly, the site-specific hazard mapping required by the Bushfire Hazard Overlay
Code is to be prepared consistent with the methodology adopted to prepare the SPP mapping.
The methodology used to prepare the SPP mapping is described in:
      •    Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning’s Natural Hazards, Risk and
           Resilience –– Bushfire (December 2019) State Planning Policy – state interest guidance
           material; and
      •    Queensland Fire and Emergency Services - (2019) Planning for Bushfire Resilient
           Communities.
Site-specific hazard maps are referred to as Local Hazard Area Maps in the SPP documents. The
preparation of Local Hazard Area Maps has been undertaken for the site in accordance with the
methodology described in the above referenced documents.

3.1.1      Mapping Methodology
The mapping presented herein was prepared by adopting the following methodology:
      •    Categorizing the vegetation within the site in accordance with the vegetation hazard classes
           derived from QFES (2019);
      •    Using the patch and corridor filtering process to remove narrow corridors and small patches
           of VHC’s1;
      •    Subdividing the identified vegetation hazard classes into bushfire hazard sub-units based on
           slope differences and vegetation hazard classes. All upslope and across slope vegetation
           units are allocated an underlying slope of 1 degree as per methodology prescribed within
           Queensland Fire and Emergency Services - (2019) Planning for Bushfire Resilient
           Communities. The maximal slope recorded within 25m x 25m grids within the VHC’s is
           adopted as the effective slope underlying the VHC. A conservative approach is adopted
           where multiple slopes persist within VHC’s;
      •    Assigning SPP Potential Bushfire Intensity classes to the sub-units;
      •    Application of 100m Potential Impact Buffers to the amended sub-units to derive an overall
           Local Hazard Area Map.




1 The patch and corridor filtering process to remove or downgrade hazard levels of small patches and narrow corridors involves the

following three stages:
      •    Merging small patches of a single Vegetation Hazard Class less than 0.5 ha;
      •    Merging small Vegetation Hazard Class patches between 0.5 and 1 ha with higher or moderate fuel loads (greater than 8
           tonnes/ha); and
      •    Removing narrow corridors of vegetation less than 50m wide through a process of patch erosion and dilation. These small
           patches are merged with surrounding vegetation by allocating a patch to the Vegetation Hazard Class that is most common to
           the patch boundary (Leonard et al., 2017).




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