Response to Info Request -Attachment 7 - Bushfire Report MCU18-0015 & RAL18-0001 · MCU18/0015

3.4        Fuel Accumulation Assessment – Fuel Areas 3 and 5 North eastern Slope




Figure 7. Fuel Accumulation Assessment – Fuel Area 2
Fuel hazard estimate                                      Assessment according to Hines et al 2010
         th
Date: 11 April 2018
Layer                              Rating      Description / Comments                                    Equivalent fuel
                                                                                                         load
                                                                                                         t/ha
Surface and near surface            Low        Low litter bed 10 mm, with Moderate NS fuels, mainly               6
                                               weeds – asparagus fern, with some bracken fern
Elevated                         Moderate      Cypress, hoop pine, Celtis recruiters and umbrella palm          2-3
                                               … most fuel at the top of the layer
Bark                                High       Allowance for involvement of Cypress. Cypress                      2
                                               predominates, with some Celtis, Bangalow Palms.
Overall rating                   Very High                                                                     11t/ha

Table 2. Fuel Assessment Fuel Areas 3 and 5.

The Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy maps the vegetation present as a combination of
(70%) RE12.2.1 and (30%) RE12.2.5 with default total available fuel loads of 4.5t/ha and 24.1t/ha respectively.
Site assessment supports their vegetation classification, and working on 70% of 4,5t/ha plus 30% of 24.1t/ha, a
value of 10.38t/ha is suggested. This aligns with the fuel load assessed above. For the purposes of site specific
fire modelling in accordance with Method 2 under AS3959-2009) a total available fuel value of 11t/ha (6t/ha of
which is surface and near surface fuel) is applied to site specific fire modelling in Section 6.



Report compiled by Bushfire Risk Reducers for Innovative Planning Solutions                               Page 12