Annexure C Bushfire risk assessment and Disaster Managment plan

                        Ecological Natural Area Management



5 Bushfire risk assessment
5.1       Bushfire hazard mitigation potential solutions
In this situation of vulnerable residents in a Bushfire Prone Area, two potential solutions are
available to ensure their safety during a bushfire. The two potential solutions are:
      •    Evacuate all vulnerable residents in good time before a bushfire attack and/or
      •    Provide safe refuge for all vulnerable residents on-site during the passage of a bushfire.
On this site, the evacuation option will fail if not conducted in good time as the potential evacuation
routes are through the hazard back to the ferry.
Accordingly, this report will propose that the second option of providing a safe refuge for all
vulnerable residents on the beach during the passage of a bushfire is the most appropriate
solution.
Note: Early evacuation or refuge on the beach is the solution used by Queensland Parks and
Wildlife Service for their camp grounds in Cooloola National Park.

5.2       Bushfire hazard mitigation considerations:
In this camp ground situation, however, residents accessing the beach as a refuge during the
passage of a bushfire front will need to be considered to be pedestrians: that is, not in cars as
many residents will not be driving 4WD vehicles.
Therefore, the maximum radiant heat load to be tolerated in this situation is 2.1 kW/m2; the
maximum radiant heat load tolerated by an unprotected person

5.3       Assessment of the bushfire hazard mitigation potential solutions
As noted above, the maximum radiant heat load tolerated by an unprotected person is 2.1 kW/m2.
Therefore this report will assess the the expected radiant heat load on the beach near the camp
ground to ensure that there are areas which do not exceed the 2.1 kW/m2. radiant heat load thresh-
hold.

5.4       Assessment of radiant heat loads on the beach
To assess the radiant heat loads on the beach, the method used will be to:
      •    Assess the fuel loads of the nearby hazardous vegetation:
      •    Assess the radiant heat loads at varying distances from the hazard using the view factor
           method. For this assessment, software developed by Newcastle Bushfire Consulting which
           models radiant heat loads using Method 2 of Australian Standard AS3959-2009:
           Construction of buildings in bushfire prone areas.




Bushfire Risk Assessment and Management Plan – Noosa North Shore Beach Campground Upgrade       March 2017

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