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




Park to the south of Noosa Springs as well as around the Cooroibah area in the 2020 fire season,
resulting in mass evacuations of local communities. These fires temporarily reduced local fuel
loads whilst promoting fire prone vegetation regeneration. Post fire fuel loads can attain pre fire
volumes within +/- <5 years because of low decomposition rates and rapid regrowth following fire.
The repeated wet seasons since the fires has substantially contributed to post fire fuel load re-
accumulation.
The occurrence of a fire that occurred >3 years ago should not be misinterpreted to mean fuel
loads remain at minimal volumes and bushfire risk remains low, particularly for heathland and
paperbark communities whose combined surface fuels significantly influence fire behaviour.
Indeed, the SU7 VHC 22.1 paperbark community, which was razed during the September 2019
bushfire, has now redeveloped close to maximum surface load fuels and exhibits dense areas of
paperbark and wattle regeneration to 2-4m height. The paperbark canopy remains in a low foliage
state with whole stands of paperbark trees also appearing to be dead (refer Plate 25).


                                                                              Thin canopy foliage




            Canopy spp recruitment




                                                           Dense understory foliage




          Plate 25– SU7 VHC 22.1 understorey regeneration following September 2019 bushfire impact.

4.2      Likely Fire Paths
Standard fire paths are considered to be a south east to north-east trajectory during the fire
season being driven by hot and dry north westerly to south westerly winds. Late autumn/spring
weather patterns over the last decade has seen the number of high to very high fire weather days
increase significantly, resulting in increased moisture loss from forest fuels hence increased
combustion potential. Given the recent fire examples, it is considered any flammable fire pathway
toward a site should be viewed with extra caution, irrespective of whether it is located in traditional
high-risk fire pathway (i.e. from the north-west to west) or not.

Area 1 and to a lesser extent Area 4 are exposed to limited fire run distances because of fuel
load fragmentation in the landscape (i.e. low fuel load roadways, cleared lawns, houses and golf
courses etc). Area 4 is beyond likely direct flame transmission contact from the open forest to the




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