Bushfire Report

     STEP 6. ONGOING MANAGEMENT AND LANDSCAPING
     Your home and garden can blend with the natural environment and be landscaped
     to minimise the impact of fire at the same time. To provide an effective APZ, you
     need to plan the layout of your garden to include features such as fire resistant
     plants, radiant heat barriers and windbreaks.

     Layout of gardens in an APZ
     When creating and maintaining a garden that is part of an APZ you should:

     •   ensure that vegetation does not provide a continuous path to the house;
     •   remove all noxious and environmental weeds;
     •   plant or clear vegetation into clumps rather than continuous rows;
     •   prune low branches two metres from the ground to prevent a ground fire
         from spreading into trees;
     •   locate vegetation far enough away from the asset so that plants will not ignite
         the asset by direct flame contact or radiant heat emission;
     •   plant and maintain short green grass around the house as this will slow the
         fire and reduce fire intensity. Alternatively, provide non-flammable pathways
         directly around the dwelling;
     •   ensure that shrubs and other plants do not directly abut the dwelling. Where
         this does occur, gardens should contain low-flammability plants and non
         flammable ground cover such as pebbles and crush tile; and
     •   avoid erecting brush type fencing and planting “pencil pine” type trees
         next to buildings, as these are highly flammable.




     Removal of other materials
     Woodpiles, wooden sheds, combustible material, storage areas, large quantities
     of garden mulch, stacked flammable building materials etc. should be located
10   away from the house. These items should preferably be located in a designated
     cleared location with no direct contact with bush fire hazard vegetation.

     Other protective features
     You can also take advantage of existing or proposed protective features such as
     fire trails, gravel paths, rows of trees, dams, creeks, swimming pools, tennis
     courts and vegetable gardens as part of the property’s APZ.



     PLANTS FOR BUSH FIRE PRONE GARDENS
     When designing your garden it is important to consider the type of plant species
     and their flammability as well as their placement and arrangement.

     Given the right conditions, all plants will burn. However, some plants are less
     flammable than others.