Bushfire Risk Assessment 2025 Final - Noosa Springs 2022026.pdf

Bushfire Risk Assessment v3                                                           NCES REF: J001433
Select Areas of Noosa Springs Residential Estate, Noosa Heads




                                            EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

North Coast Environmental Services (NCES) have been engaged to provide a Bushfire Risk
Assessment for select areas within the Noosa Springs residential estate. The purpose of the
Assessment was to confirm the current bushfire risk and the impact such risk may have on
adjacent properties. This report represents an update to the risk assessment completed by NCES
in December 2019.
This risk has been confirmed by a combination of site inspection, bushfire risk modelling and
bushfire mapping prepared consistent with the methodology described in State Planning Policy
Natural Hazards Risk and Resilience 2019 and the Bushfire Resilience Communities 2019. It is
noted the previous 2019 assessment utilised an earlier iteration of the SPP methodology and
some key changes have occurred which have affected the assessment results.

The resultant Local Hazard Map identifies most of the site is affected by a Low Potential Bushfire
Intensity area with limited Potential Impact Buffers. Areas 1 and 4 are in a Low Potential Bushfire
Intensity area. The western limit of Area 3 and the eastern limit of Area 4 are both affected by a
Potential Impact Buffer. It is noted that SU6 was previously assigned a VHC 9.1 Moist to dry
eucalypt open forest classification however following several years of above average rainfall and
subsequent development of a clearly dominant vineforest understorey, it has now been assigned
a VHC 8.1 Wet eucalypt tall open forest.
None of the buildings in the precincts investigated are mapped in a bushfire prone area under the
Noosa Plan or the SPP bushfire overlay. Assessment against AS3959-2018 is therefore not
applicable to the subject buildings irrespective of the site-specific mapping produced in this report.
The site or part thereof may be mapped in a Designated Bushfire Prone Area via future mapping
updates to the SPP Bushfire Hazard Overlay or the Noosa Council Bushfire Hazard Overlay. To
better understand the implications of this scenario, bushfire modelling has been completed to
identify the extent of separation required to achieve <29 kW/m² radiant heat flux exposure at any
point on the buildings. The assessment also included a qualitative assessment including
discussion of past fire behaviour/history, likely fire paths, site factors that would minimise or
maximise fire behaviour, fuel arrangements and loads, fire run distances towards houses (or
proposed house sites), slopes and any other matter considered important in respect to the issue.
The site is connected to the town water supply and includes, and flanks, numerous large water
bodies. This is a significant advantage during a bushfire event for both QFES and Noosa Springs
staff and residents. It is envisaged any fire that takes hold in the narrow corridors the focus of this
assessment could be significantly suppressed, if not extinguished, by a combined resident /
QFES effort.
Numerous bushfire reduction measures have been recommended to assist in the protection of
people and property during a bushfire emergency. The following priority recommendations have
been set:
    •    Maintain existing APZ’s for the life of the development;
    •    Review bushfire overlay maps on an annual basis to confirm whether the site has been
         included in a Designated Bushfire Prone Area;
    •    Install a multi directional sprinkler system along the vegetation edge between Areas 2 and
         3 and the adjacent houses. Ideally the sprinkler system could be activated both manually
         (in the event of a comms failure) and electronically from a remote location. The need to
         install such a system for Areas 1 and 4 is currently not deemed a high priority.
    •    A site wide Vehicular Access Plan be developed which identifies the existing access
         opportunities and constraints across the site for QFES vehicles including standard rapid
         response Landcruiser’s and MRV’s (i.e. yellow trucks).




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