Information response

Table 2: Bushfire Attack Mechanisms and Mitigation

Bushfire                Attack Type of Mitigation Measure Recommended Mitigation
Mechanism                      Used                       Number from Bushfire
                                                          Report
Flame Contact                     Fire breaks and separation from the     1,2, 10, 15
                                  calculated flame length, fuel load
                                  reduction strategies
Radiant Heat Flux                 Separation         and       building   1, 2, 3, 8, 14, 15
                                  construction to withstand incident
                                  heat flux, fencing and landscaping
                                  to offer shielding
Ember Attack                      Building        construction     and    1, 3, 12, 15
                                  landscaping to help filter embers

Information Required
5       Review the layout plan and remove the vegetated open space area to provide a
        contiguous buffer incorporating the powerline easement and vehicle parking,
        etc. This may require moving the building to the east or extending the car
        parking and internal roadways along or under the powerline easement to
        remove vegetation between the proposed building and the vegetation within
        the Noosa National Park to the east.

The layout plan has been amended to move the building footprint further to the east as
suggested. The remaining landscaping will provide additional protection from radiant heat
flux and ember attack if undertaken in accordance with the recommendations of the bushfire
report. Section B-B of the landscape concept plans prepared by Anembo shows the position
of the building relative to the existing remnant vegetation, the Energex easement and the
carpark.
Issue - Bushfire
The application proposes an emergency access point onto the south-bound side of
Walter Hay Drive. This would not provide a suitable egress point for evacuation of
residents and staff, due to the current nature of the south-bound roadway of Walter
Hay Drive and the lack of safe connectivity to the north-bound lanes. It is important
an aged care facility has more than one access point in an emergency such as a large
fire within vegetation to the south or east.
A preferred egress route is along the powerline easement to the north and onto Eenie
Creek Road. Use of this route would require consent to cross National Park land.
Information Required
6       Amended drawings demonstrating suitable safe egress for residents and staff
        to Eenie Road to the north.
Evacuation of residents would be by bus or ambulance with a combination of both being
likely to be required. It would be unsafe to evacuate residents at the last minute, so in
practicality, evacuation would be early or not at all. The most unsafe place to be, as the
bushfire impacts the site is outside of the building in the path of the fire.
Recommendation 17 of the submitted bushfire report requires that a bushfire evacuation
plan be prepared for the development. A template for the completion of the evacuation plan
was included in Appendix D. This template prepared by the NSW Rural Fire Service requires
that responsible persons and triggers be identified to execute the evacuation plan. The
template contains some suggested triggers for evacuation such as:

   Police or fire authorities direct the facility to be evacuated;